Crap Towns / Merseyside / Bootle
Bootle
92/100Crap Score
People from here are Bugs-in-Clogs.
83rd crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Merseyside. 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
Brutal, and they're not wrong
The library's gone, the bus shelters get smashed and the takeaways fail their inspections.
Bootle has the docks, the Strand and a nickname it earned itself. Brutal Bootle. Everyone else calls the locals Bootlickers, and the locals call themselves Bugs-in-Clogs, which nobody has ever managed to explain. The bugs fly backwards round here, apparently, to keep the dust out of their eyes.
The vandals keep the name going. Criminal damage and crime overall both run at 1.6 times the typical town's rate, drug offences at more than four times, and some idiot sets a fire more than three times as often. There have been 16 serious pollution incidents round Bootle since 2016, and the air is half as bad again as the typical town's. The road into Liverpool is roadworks and people in the wrong lane.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bootle's 91 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Food hygiene91/1006.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 292 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions89/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires88/10019.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution75/10012.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain74/100149 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour71/10012.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping66/10013.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Sefton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband41/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 11.7% across the Sefton council area
- Sewage spills17/10031.9 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 98 |
| 2 | Birkenhead | 96 |
| 3 | Bootle | 92 |
| 4 | St Helens | 90 |
| 5 | Kirkby | 86 |
| 6 | Wallasey | 86 |
| 7 | Prescot | 83 |
| 8 | Huyton with Roby | 78 |
| 9 | Newton-le-Willows | 66 |
Bootle by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 125 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 15 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.8 per 10,000 people, 18% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 16 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 16 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 49) Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 5.6 per 100,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Orrell (2013)
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.27am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 25% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,491 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Sefton council
Have a crap-off
Bootle 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.