Crap Towns / Powys / Brecon
Brecon
59/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 59. 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 Brecon? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Where's the bloody car?
Nice canal. Jazz festival. The banks have cleared off and the river's up again.
Brecon is lovely to look at, and every walker in Britain comes to look at it. They park in your street, the army have the rest, and you pay the council to park miles away.
The banks have seen enough. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander have all shut a branch, over 14 times the typical town's rate of closures, and the charity shops are filling the gaps at five times the typical town's per head. The overflows dump sewage for nearly 11 times the typical town's hours, and the river keeps flooding the lot anyway. The takeaways' hygiene stickers are best not checked.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Brecon's 98 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Sewage spills98/1002,940 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband97/10023.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 37.9% across the Powys council area
- Food hygiene86/1006.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 128 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain75/100150 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Serious road collisions40/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour40/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping3/1003.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Powys council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution2/1002.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newtown | 76 |
| – | Brecon | 59 |
Brecon by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 89.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 18% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 11) Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 48.5 per 100,000 people, 14.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 6.1 per 10,000 people, 3.8x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.53pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,335 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 13% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Powys council
Have a crap-off
Brecon 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.