Crap Towns / Somerset / Bridgwater
Bridgwater
57/100Crap Score
424th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Somerset. 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 Bridgwater? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
It used to stink. Used to.
Bridgwater's cellophane factory stank the town out for years. The factory's gone. The reputation hasn't.
Everyone in Somerset knows Bridgwater for the stink off the old cellophane factory. The factory's gone. The vandals and the bother in town haven't. Crime runs at nearly twice the typical town's rate, anti-social behaviour too, and there's a bookies on every corner.
Carnival's good, fair play. They hold fireworks over their heads on poles and call it tradition. The rest of the year some idiot's setting fire to stuff anyway, at twice the typical town's rate of deliberate fires. Then you try to get home round the one-way system and lose the will to live.
Bath came out crapper than Bridgwater. Nobody in Bridgwater can believe it either.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bridgwater's 92 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson92/10012.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour89/10026.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires78/10011.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions78/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband62/1002.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.3% across the Somerset council area
- Rain53/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution33/1007.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills24/10058.4 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping19/1006.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Somerset council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene10/1001.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 283 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bath | 66 |
| 2 | Bridgwater | 57 |
| 3 | Taunton | 52 |
| 4 | Keynsham | 51 |
| 5 | Weston-super-Mare | 51 |
| 6 | Midsomer Norton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.7 | Chard | 38 |
| 8 | Yeovil | 34 |
| 9 | Minehead | 33 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bridgwater by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 147 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 76.2
- 33 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.9 per 10,000 people, 6.3x the typical town's 1.1
- 10 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 33 pubs, 39 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 7 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 5 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 41) Worse: 23% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 8.4 per 100,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.01am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 64% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,595 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Somerset council
Have a crap-off
Bridgwater 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.