Crap Towns / Derbyshire / Borrowash
Borrowash
7/100Crap Score
Locals call it Bogwash.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 7. 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 Borrowash? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bogwash. Locals' word, not ours.
The biggest night of the year was a pothole's birthday. Honest.
Borrowash is so dead the big event of recent years was a birthday party for a pothole. The station shut, the football team plays over in Spondon, and the place has quietly swallowed half of Ockbrook without anyone noticing. Crime's half the typical town's. Nobody dumps anything.
Locals call it Bogwash, and the storm overflows nearby spill at 6.6 times the typical town's rate. Their word. The drains agree.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Borrowash's 92 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Sewage spills92/1001,813 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution68/1009.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene52/1002.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 35 food businesses with a rating
- Rain32/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions27/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband6/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.9% across the Erewash council area
- Deliberate fires6/1001.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson2/1002.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping1/1002.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Erewash council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour0/1004.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Buxton | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Hadfield | 36 |
| 14 | Long Eaton | 33 |
| 15 | Brimington | 22 |
| 16 | Glossop | 16 |
| 17 | Swadlincote | 14 |
| 18 | Belper | 8 |
| – | Borrowash | 7 |
| 19 | Dronfield | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Borrowash by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 38.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 50% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 13 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 18.1 per 10,000 people, 16.5x the typical town's 1.1
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 14.0 per 100,000 people, 4.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.8 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open 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
- 12.40am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,502 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Erewash council
- £2,361 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £31 less than the English average
- 15% of Derbyshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Borrowash 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.