Crap Towns / Cumbria / Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
65/100Crap Score
344th crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Cumbria. 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
Got something to say about Barrow-in-Furness? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Is it much further? Yes.
The end of the longest cul-de-sac in England. Nobody drives through. You come here on purpose, or by mistake.
Barra builds nuclear submarines, about the most complicated thing anyone in Britain makes, and then the people who build them try to get home down the A590. Nobody passes through Barrow. You come here on purpose, or you took a wrong turn at Ulverston.
The town centre keeps losing shops, and the ones left get their windows put in. Criminal damage comes in at more than one and a half times the typical town's rate, and some idiot's setting fire to something two and a half times as often. Every so often a camera crew turns up to film the boarded-up streets, and Barrovians go spare about it. They've a point. The crew never has to look very hard, mind.
The rain turns up on 153 days a year, but Barrow gets more sunshine than the typical town. Nobody in Barrow has ever been told this, and nobody will believe it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Barrow-in-Furness's 88 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson88/10011.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires83/10014.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain78/100153 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills77/100764 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions74/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband67/1007.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.2% across the Westmorland and Furness council area
- Anti-social behaviour56/10010.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping34/1008.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Westmorland and Furness council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene15/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 309 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution6/1004.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitehaven | 75 |
| 2 | Workington | 75 |
| 3 | Barrow-in-Furness | 65 |
| 4 | Carlisle | 62 |
| 5 | Ulverston | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Penrith | 25 |
| 7 | Kendal | 20 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Barrow-in-Furness by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 102 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 34% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 12 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 35% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
- 0 of 3 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 26 pubs, 14 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 7 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 54) Better: 53% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 3.6 per 100,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Barrow Island Library Link (2018)
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 5 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.37am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 50% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,587 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Westmorland and Furness council
- £2,508 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £116 more than the English average
- 26% of Westmorland and Furness council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x England's 16%
- 8 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Barrow-in-Furness 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.