Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Bovingdon
Bovingdon
21/100Crap Score
Known as Bovvy.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 21. 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
Bovvy. Studios beside a prison.
Film studios on the old airfield. The prison next door gets rather less publicity.
Bovvy is a nice enough village with a film studio on the old airfield and a prison next door. The lanes get studio vans, prison vans and lorries, all squeezing past on a pavement made for a pram. Overhead, planes queue for Heathrow. It's lovely here, if you're deaf and quick on your feet.
Blockbusters get shot up the road while the village waits for one to buffer. Gigabit's on offer to 69.0% of premises. The last bus home is at 8.45pm and there's no pool. Crime's low, apart from whatever goes on behind the fence at The Mount.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bovingdon's 96 for broadband means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Broadband96/10031.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.7% across the Dacorum council area
- Fly-tipping62/10012.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dacorum council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution59/1007.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene58/1004.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 23 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires56/1006.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain45/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour25/10011.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions3/1000.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Hitchin | 35 |
| 12 | Letchworth | 28 |
| 13 | Hoddesdon | 28 |
| 14 | Berkhamsted | 22 |
| – | Bovingdon | 21 |
| 15 | Cheshunt | 21 |
| 16 | Bishop's Stortford | 19 |
| 17 | Tring | 19 |
| 18 | Royston | 18 |
Bovingdon by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 42.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 44% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 18.8 per 10,000 people, 5.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 4 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.45pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.6x 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%
- 1,589 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Dacorum council
- £2,409 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £17 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bovingdon 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.