Crap Towns / Northumberland / Blyth
Blyth
83/100Crap Score
173rd crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Northumberland. 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
Hide in a beach hut
Pretty beach huts on South Beach. Boarded-up shite in town.
Ever been to Blyth? The beach huts are nice. That's it, that's the list. The town centre's boarded up, and the middle of it is on the Heritage at Risk list. Halifax, Lloyds and Santander have all shut a branch, and Cowpen library went in 2017.
Vandalism and anti-social behaviour both run at more than twice the typical town's rate, and lads tear round the South Beach car park all night. The overflows nearby run for over six times as long as the typical town's, and South Beach is still rated Excellent, so the sea's doing better than the town. They built ships here once. Now they can't build a high street.
It's the crappest town in Northumberland. Ashington will be having a party.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Blyth's 95 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson95/10013.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour94/10030.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires93/10028.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills92/1001,727 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping63/10012.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Northumberland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions58/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband51/1003.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.9% across the Northumberland council area
- Rain31/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution22/1006.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene18/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 235 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blyth | 83 |
| 2 | Ashington | 61 |
| 3 | Prudhoe | 58 |
| 4 | Berwick-upon-Tweed | 58 |
| 5 | Morpeth | 57 |
| 6 | Bedlington | 56 |
| 7 | Hexham | 49 |
| 8 | Cramlington | 47 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Ponteland | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Blyth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 117 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 76.2
- 936 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 236 per 10,000 people, 214.5x the typical town's 1.1
- Excellent Blyth South Beach's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 27 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 3 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 45) Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 7.6 per 100,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Cowpen (2017)
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.24am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 12.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 22% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,620 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Northumberland council
Have a crap-off
Blyth 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.