Crap Towns / Lancashire / Blackburn
Blackburn
100/100Crap Score
5th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Lancashire. 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
Who's filling the holes, then?
The Beatles sang about the holes in Blackburn. Nobody's fixed them since.
People have taken the piss out of Blackburn's holes since the Beatles counted four thousand of them. Fair enough. They're still there. Nobody here has ever found the indicator either, and the bad crashes happen at well over twice the typical town's rate.
Then there's the kitchens. One in seven food businesses with a rating gets 0 to 2 from the hygiene inspectors, six times the typical town's share, and the takeaways are three times as bad. There are six public toilets for a town this size, and after a takeaway you might need one.
The rain turns up on 174 days a year and the sun's out for 1,331 hours. Rovers fans call Burnley fans Dingles and blame them for everything. Not this time, lads.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Blackburn's 99 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Food hygiene99/10014.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 678 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions98/1005.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain95/100174 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour95/10031.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping89/10025.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Blackburn with Darwen council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires81/10013.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson68/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills67/100555 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution46/1008.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband27/1004.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.5% across the Blackburn with Darwen council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padiham | 100 |
| 2 | Blackburn | 100 |
| 3 | Colne | 99 |
| 4 | Bacup | 99 |
| 5 | Darwen | 99 |
| 6 | Lancaster | 99 |
| 7 | Accrington | 99 |
| 8 | Burnley | 98 |
| 9 | Preston | 98 |
Blackburn by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 90.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 19% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 108 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.6 per 10,000 people, 7.8x the typical town's 1.1
- 19 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 45 pubs, 56 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 10 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 12.8% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (19 of 149) Worse: 3.2x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.6 per 100,000 people, 53% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 69% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 6 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.09am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 21.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 38% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,331 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 13% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Blackburn with Darwen council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 more than the English average
- 22% of Blackburn with Darwen council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Blackburn 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.