Crap Towns / Lancashire / Barnoldswick
Barnoldswick
63/100Crap Score
363rd crappest of 984 towns, and 27th in Lancashire. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Barlick. Don't say Lancashire.
They make jet engine parts. The evening buses are still thin.
It's Barlick, and Barlickers will tell you they're in Yorkshire. They're not. The boundary moved in 1974 and the town has never forgiven anyone for it. Say Lancashire in the pub and you're walking home.
They make bits of jet engines here, and the evening buses run at about a third of the typical town's rate, so getting to Colne after tea is a bloody faff. Pendle council records nearly five times the typical council's fly-tipping, most of it down the back alleys. It chucks it down on 165 days a year and the sun's out for 1,296 hours.
Yorkshire can have it. Yorkshire doesn't want it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Barnoldswick's 97 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Fly-tipping97/10051.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Pendle council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain88/100165 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour65/10017.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions55/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills54/100317 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires43/1005.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson38/1006.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene30/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 79 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution17/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband9/1001.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the Pendle council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Bamber Bridge | 72 |
| 24 | Leyland | 69 |
| 25 | Cleveleys | 64 |
| 26 | Heysham | 63 |
| 27 | Barnoldswick | 63 |
| 28 | Poulton-le-Fylde | 61 |
| 29 | Ormskirk | 51 |
| 30 | Thornton | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.31 | Lytham St Anne's | 39 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Barnoldswick by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 42.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 44% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 15 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 3 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 9.2 per 100,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 13% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.30pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 41% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,296 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 15% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Pendle council
Have a crap-off
Barnoldswick against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.