Crap Towns / Gwent / Blackwood
Blackwood
92/100Crap Score
79th crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in Gwent. 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
Caerphilly got the money, again
High Street's wide enough to land a plane on. Fuck all to shop for when you get out.
Blackwood's High Street is massive, which just gives you a better view of the empty shops. What's left is vape shops and charity shops. Caerphilly gets the investment and Blackwood gets the bus station, where the bogs are filthy and the lads hanging about outside are worse.
Barclays, HSBC and Santander have all shut their branches, so there's not even a bank to hang about outside. Anti-social behaviour and criminal damage both run at over twice the typical town's rate, and the sewers overflow for over nine times as long as the typical town's. The Stute's good, mind.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Blackwood's 97 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson97/10015.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills97/1002,585 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour95/10031.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain84/100161 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping67/10014.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Caerphilly council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions58/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene55/1002.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 105 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Broadband42/1005.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.3% across the Caerphilly council area
- Air pollution29/1007.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Newport | 97 |
| 3 | Risca | 96 |
| 4 | Ebbw Vale | 96 |
| 5 | Abertillery | 95 |
| 6 | Blackwood | 92 |
| 7 | Caerphilly | 88 |
| 8 | Pontypool | 86 |
| 9 | Ystrad Mynach | 85 |
| 10 | Cwmbrân | 75 |
Blackwood by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 121 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.1 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 10.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 19) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 23.8 per 100,000 people, 7x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.4 per 10,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.45pm 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%
- 37.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,442 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Caerphilly council
Have a crap-off
Blackwood 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.