Crap Towns / Lancashire / Bolton-le-Sands
Bolton-le-Sands
49/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 49. 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 Bolton-le-Sands? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bolton-le-Sands. Not that Bolton.
Railway line through the middle, no station. The trains don't fancy it either.
Bolton-le-Sands has a railway line right through the middle and no station, so you stand and watch the trains go past without stopping. Can't blame them. It used to be called Cockletown, which was more honest. At least it's not the other Bolton.
Crime's next to nothing. Nobody fights and nobody nicks anything. What it has got is the water company letting sewage out for five times as long as in the typical town, and Lancaster council records twice the typical council's fly-tipping. There's no public park and no pool, just a lot of trains.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bolton-le-Sands's 89 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Sewage spills89/1001,426 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping87/10023.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Lancaster council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain82/100160 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions72/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband42/1005.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.9% across the Lancaster council area
- Deliberate fires33/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene32/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 26 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour8/1007.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution7/1004.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Heysham | 63 |
| 27 | Barnoldswick | 63 |
| 28 | Poulton-le-Fylde | 61 |
| 29 | Ormskirk | 51 |
| – | Bolton-le-Sands | 49 |
| 30 | Thornton | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.31 | Lytham St Anne's | 39 |
| 32 | Euxton | 35 |
| 33 | Penwortham | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bolton-le-Sands by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 24.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 68% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 4.5 per 10,000 people, 78% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 6 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.5 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.25pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 37.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,539 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Lancaster council
Have a crap-off
Bolton-le-Sands 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.