Crap Towns / Midlothian / Bonnyrigg
Bonnyrigg
34/100Crap Score
Known as the Rigg, or Boomtown.
653rd crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Midlothian. 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 Bonnyrigg? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bonnyrigg. Mind the slope.
An old pit town turned Edinburgh dormitory, famous for a football pitch that runs downhill.
Bonnyrigg's most famous feature is the Rose's pitch at New Dundas Park, which has a slope on it you could sledge down, and every football conversation in town ends up back on it. The rest is new houses for people who work in Edinburgh, and the schools, the surgery and anything to do of a night haven't caught up. Locals call it Boomtown. It's mostly the house builders who are booming.
It's fine, really. Crime runs about a third lower than the typical Scottish town's. You pay Midlothian's council tax for it, £1,816 for a Band D home, 10% more than Scotland's average, and the sun turns up for 1,341 hours a year. The last bus home goes at 12.09am. Nobody's out after that anyway.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bonnyrigg's 70 for rain means it's crapper than 70% of towns.
- Rain70/100145 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions61/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene58/1006.6% told to improve, of the 76 food businesses inspected
- Sewage spills51/100290 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Deliberate fires39/10016.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson25/1005.3 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Broadband25/1003.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.5% across the Midlothian council area
- Anti-social behaviour17/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Air pollution9/1005.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dalkeith | 81 |
| 2 | Mayfield | 44 |
| 3 | Penicuik | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Bonnyrigg | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bonnyrigg by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 35.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 34% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 61% lower than the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 5.5 per 100,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
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
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 25% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,341 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 12% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Midlothian council
- £1,816 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £163 more than the Scottish average
- 37% of Midlothian council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 36%
- 61 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, 2 upheld Worse: 63.2 per 100,000 residents, 1.8x Scotland's 34.7
- 91.7% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bonnyrigg 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.