Crap Towns / Lancashire / Barrowford
Barrowford
81/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 81. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Jelly babies, then nothing since
Barrowford gave the world jelly babies. Since then it's been fly-tipping and sewage.
Barrowford has a bridge it calls the Roman Bridge, which is Tudor, and it used to make jelly babies up at Higherford. That's the good bit done.
The storm overflows spill for more than eight times as long as the typical town's, so the river through the middle is full of shit, and Pendle's fly-tippers do the rest. You get rain on 167 days a year and the sun shows its face for 1,280 hours.
Not one bus leaves after seven on a Wednesday, and there's none at all on a Sunday. The last one goes at 4.41pm, before most people have had their tea.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Barrowford'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
- Sewage spills95/1002,252 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain89/100167 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour83/10023.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband72/10014.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the Pendle council area
- Serious road collisions49/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires33/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution29/1007.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 37 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson17/1004.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Blackpool | 92 |
| 18 | Fleetwood | 91 |
| 19 | Skelmersdale | 85 |
| 20 | Fulwood | 82 |
| – | Barrowford | 81 |
| 21 | Chorley | 81 |
| 22 | Clitheroe | 77 |
| 23 | Bamber Bridge | 72 |
| 24 | Leyland | 69 |
Barrowford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 50.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 34% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 4.41pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 40.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,280 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 16% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Pendle council
Have a crap-off
Barrowford 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.