Crap Towns / Devon / Bideford
Bideford
42/100Crap Score
Locals call it Biddy. They call themselves Biddies.
569th crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Devon. 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 Bideford? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
At least it's not Barnstaple.
Lovely old bridge. No railway. The buses don't care.
Bideford has a medieval bridge, a quay and no railway, so getting anywhere means a bus to Barnstaple that misses the train. Every few years somebody suggests putting the trains back on the Tarka Trail and the cyclists go mental.
The High Street's charity shops, the banks keep shutting, and there's no public swimming pool, so the sea at Westward Ho! is it. Fair play, the sea came out Excellent. The takeaways didn't: 13.3% score 0 to 2 for hygiene, over three times the typical town's share. They'll still tell you it beats Barnstaple. They might be right.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bideford's 94 for broadband means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Broadband94/10014.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 40.0% across the Torridge council area
- Food hygiene85/1005.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 142 food businesses with a rating
- Rain80/100156 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson66/1008.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour62/10017.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills60/100410 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions21/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires15/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping4/1003.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Torridge council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution3/1003.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Barnstaple | 69 |
| 4 | Tiverton | 69 |
| 5 | Paignton | 53 |
| 6 | Exeter | 45 |
| 7 | Bideford | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Newton Abbot | 39 |
| 9 | Honiton | 37 |
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bideford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 0.9
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Excellent Westward Ho!'s bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 13.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 15) Worse: 3.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 15.4 per 100,000 people, 4.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 12.23am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 79% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,634 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Torridge council
Have a crap-off
Bideford 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.