Crap Towns / Devon / Bovey Tracey
Bovey Tracey
4/100Crap Score
Known as Bovine Tracey.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 4. 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
Too nice. Hated it.
It's on the edge of Dartmoor and full of craft shops. Hard to find much wrong with it, which is irritating.
Bovey Tracey used to dig clay and make pots. Now it flogs pots to tourists at a craft fair. It sits on the edge of Dartmoor, crime's next to nothing and it's all very bloody pleasant.
The biggest row in town is about a bigger supermarket. The only other thing wrong with it is the broadband, where 40 premises can't even get the legal minimum speed, and a last bus at 8pm. If that's your worst problem, do us all a favour and shut up.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bovey Tracey's 96 for broadband means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Broadband96/10026.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.1% across the Teignbridge council area
- Rain74/100150 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills54/100331 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping28/1007.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Teignbridge council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene28/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 32 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires8/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson6/1003.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution5/1003.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour0/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions0/1000.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
| 14 | Brixham | 23 |
| 15 | Ivybridge | 18 |
| 16 | Exmouth | 12 |
| 17 | Sidmouth | 5 |
| – | Bovey Tracey | 4 |
Bovey Tracey by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 25.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 67% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.2 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 6.4 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 3.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 38.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,587 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Teignbridge council
Have a crap-off
Bovey Tracey 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.