Crap Towns / Lancashire / Brierfield
Brierfield
97/100Crap Score
31st crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in Lancashire. 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
Brierfield. Dug up and dumped on.
The roads are dug up, nobody's working on them, and there's rubbish dumped everywhere.
Brierfield's roads have been dug up so long the cones have moved in, and you never see anyone actually working in the holes. The Colne Road junction is a queue. Pendle council records nearly five times the typical council's fly-tipping, and charges £2,640 a year in council tax on a Band D home for the privilege.
Anti-social behaviour sits at twice the typical town's rate and the sewers overflow for four times as long. There's rain on 170 days a year and the sun puts in 1,267 hours. The old mill's still standing, and even that's on the Heritage at Risk register. Pendle Hill's still there too. Go and look at that instead.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Brierfield's 97 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Fly-tipping97/10051.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Pendle council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour92/10028.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain92/100170 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills84/1001,107 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene75/1005.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 52 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions71/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson70/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires55/1006.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution37/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband11/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the Pendle council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Burnley | 98 |
| 9 | Preston | 98 |
| 10 | Nelson | 98 |
| 11 | Rawtenstall | 97 |
| 12 | Brierfield | 97 |
| 13 | Morecambe | 97 |
| 14 | Haslingden | 96 |
| 15 | Great Harwood | 96 |
| 16 | Oswaldtwistle | 95 |
Brierfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.8 per 10,000 people, 18% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.07am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 25.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,267 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 17% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Pendle council
Have a crap-off
Brierfield 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.