Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Brackley
Brackley
13/100Crap Score
860th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th in Northamptonshire. 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
Builds racing cars, can't get a train
The quickest cars on earth get built here. The nearest train's in Banbury.
Brackley builds Formula One cars and hasn't got a railway station. Want a train? Drive to Banbury. The Market Place is all right, the Morris dancers turn up, there are parks everywhere and crime's under half the typical town's. Built for speed. Mostly for getting out.
Then you get out into the lanes. West Northamptonshire logged 21,304 fly-tips in a year, nearly four times the typical council's rate, and brought 1 prosecution. The storm overflows nearby spill at nearly twice the typical town's rate too. Lovely town. Shame about the verges.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Brackley's 96 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Fly-tipping96/10042.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills66/100520 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution38/1006.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene36/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 67 food businesses with a rating
- Rain31/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour11/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband9/1001.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the West Northamptonshire council area
- Serious road collisions1/1000.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires0/1000.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
| 10 | Desborough | 21 |
| 11 | Brackley | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Brackley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 33.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 56% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 217 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 134 per 10,000 people, 39.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 11) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 6.2 per 100,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 9 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.6 per 10,000 people, 3.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.17am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 82% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,539 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
West Northamptonshire council
- £2,487 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 more than the English average
- 13% of West Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 45 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Brackley 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.