Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Bolton
Bolton
94/100Crap Score
58th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Greater Manchester. 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
Burnden Park's an Asda now
Wanderers moved out to Horwich. Have a walk round the town centre and you'll see why.
Bolton spun cotton for the world and built a massive town hall to show off about it. That's still there. Round it you've got shutters, vape shops and 200 hairdressers. Wanderers moved out to Horwich, and Burnden Park's an Asda.
The bin fires are something else. Bins and rubbish get set alight nearly ten times as often as in the typical town. A 0 to 2 hygiene rating is four times as common here as in the typical town, and one in seven takeaways has one.
It rains on 173 days a year. The Trotters still reckon they're better than Wigan.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bolton's 99 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Food hygiene99/1009.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 1,184 food businesses with a rating
- Rain95/100173 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires90/10021.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping90/10023.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bolton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution72/10011.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills70/100606 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson65/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions56/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour52/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Broadband27/1005.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.0% across the Bolton council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Eccles | 98 |
| 6 | Heywood | 97 |
| 7 | Kearsley | 96 |
| 8 | Walkden | 95 |
| 9 | Bolton | 94 |
| 10 | Rochdale | 94 |
| 11 | Oldham | 94 |
| 12 | Little Hulton | 93 |
| 13 | Audenshaw | 93 |
Bolton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 96.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 78 pubs, 200 hairdressers, 34 charity shops, 19 bookmakers, 22 vape shops, 17 banks, 5 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 14.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (30 of 213) Worse: 3.5x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.6 per 100,000 people, 53% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 libraries shut for good since 2010: Astley Bridge (2012), Castle Hill (2012) and Oxford Grove (2012)
- 12 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 16 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 7 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.59am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,365 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bolton council
Have a crap-off
Bolton 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.