Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Bingley
Bingley
80/100Crap Score
Locals call it Bing Bong.
197th crappest of 984 towns, and 18th in West Yorkshire. 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
Boats go up. Visitors go home.
People come to watch boats go up a hill. They don't stay for the rest.
Bingley's got a famous flight of canal locks, and people come from miles to watch boats go up a hill. Then they leave, because the rest is a market square with sod all in it and fly-tipped crap down the back lanes. Locals call it Bing Bong. It sounds more fun than it is.
It chucks it down on 146 days a year and there's 1 public toilet in the whole town, so the day trippers watching the locks had better have gone before they came. The overflows nearby dump sewage for over five times the typical town's hours, and it all goes in the river, in case you fancied a paddle. You didn't.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bingley's 93 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Fly-tipping93/10032.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bradford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills90/1001,484 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain71/100146 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions70/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires63/1007.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene56/1002.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 139 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour48/10010.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution40/1007.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson31/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband26/1005.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.5% across the Bradford council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Leeds | 89 |
| 15 | Castleford | 88 |
| 16 | Baildon | 84 |
| 17 | Mirfield | 81 |
| 18 | Bingley | 80 |
| 19 | Liversedge | 80 |
| 20 | Gomersal and Birkenshaw | 79 |
| 21 | Pudsey | 72 |
| 22 | Todmorden | 70 |
Bingley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.4 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
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 19 pubs, 25 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 12.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 24) Worse: 3.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 69% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.49pm 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%
- 19.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,323 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 14% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bradford council
- £2,361 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £31 less than the English average
- 13% of Bradford council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 27 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bingley 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.