Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Brighouse
Brighouse
66/100Crap Score
335th crappest of 984 towns, and 25th in West Yorkshire. 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
Dug up. All of it.
Brig's got a famous brass band. Locals reckon the other attraction is Tesco.
Brighouse has a famous brass band, a canal and a big Tesco, and locals will tell you that's the lot. The town centre has been dug up for regeneration for so long nobody remembers it otherwise. When the motorway jams it all comes through town, and serious crashes run well over the typical town's rate.
Bailiff Bridge and Hipperholme have both lost their libraries, and HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have all shut a branch. It rains on 156 days a year. Sewage goes in the water nearby for nearly five times the typical town's hours, so the canal in the brochures isn't the only water to keep out of. Still, there's Tesco.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Brighouse's 88 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Serious road collisions88/1003.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills87/1001,298 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain80/100156 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution79/10011.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires79/10012.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene47/1002.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 215 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson44/1006.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband37/1003.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.1% across the Calderdale council area
- Anti-social behaviour32/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping20/1006.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Calderdale council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Pudsey | 72 |
| 22 | Todmorden | 70 |
| 23 | Normanton | 68 |
| 24 | Featherstone | 68 |
| 25 | Brighouse | 66 |
| 26 | Morley | 66 |
| 27 | East Ardsley | 63 |
| 28 | Ossett | 62 |
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
Brighouse by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 91.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 33 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 10.0 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 33 pubs, 26 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 43) Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 9.0 per 100,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 libraries shut for good since 2010: Bailiff Bridge (2019) and Hipperholme (2021)
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 20.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,359 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Calderdale council
- £2,420 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £28 more than the English average
- 23% of Calderdale council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 44% higher than England's 16%
- 8 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Brighouse 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.