Crap Towns / Suffolk / Beccles
Beccles
30/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 30. 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
Beccles. Come by boat.
Pretty river. Shit parking. Drivers who can't drive.
Beccles is pretty, to be fair. River, pubs, boats and the Broads on the doorstep. Then you try and park, and half the town's blocking the side streets to dodge the charges.
Every bank has had a go at leaving. Barclays, Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds have all announced closures, which per head is 12 times the typical town's. What's moved into the high street is charity shops, eight times the typical town's per head. The roads are no better, with serious crashes at 1.6 times the typical town's rate. The Waveney's still there, mind. Nobody's shut that yet.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Beccles's 86 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Serious road collisions86/1003.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution53/1007.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband52/1005.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the East Suffolk council area
- Criminal damage and arson50/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene48/1002.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 86 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping30/1007.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Suffolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills29/10090.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires21/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain16/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour14/1006.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lowestoft | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Sudbury | 30 |
| – | Beccles | 30 |
| 3 | Ipswich | 15 |
| 4 | Haverhill | 11 |
| 5 | Newmarket | 9 |
| 6 | Stowmarket | 7 |
| 7 | Felixstowe | 6 |
| 8 | Woodbridge | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Beccles by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 65.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 14% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 31 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 31.6 per 10,000 people, 9.3x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 12) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 40.8 per 100,000 people, 12x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 6.1 per 10,000 people, 3.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.40pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 26% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,612 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Suffolk council
- £2,335 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £57 less than the English average
- 22% of Suffolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Beccles 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.