Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Brotton
Brotton
51/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 51. 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 Brotton? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Which end? Doesn't matter.
Brotton's split into Top End and Bottom End. Neither end has a library any more.
Brotton has a Top End and a Bottom End with the railway in the middle, and that's the first thing anyone tells you. It was an ironstone village, and one mine stuck a gun on a railway truck to shoot at Zeppelins. Now the library's shut, the High Street's noisy at night and the vandals are busy at both ends.
Redcar and Cleveland's fly-tipping runs at over four times the typical council's, and Brotton does its bit. Things go up in flames at six times the typical town's rate. There's no public park on the map, and 6.4% of homes can't even get superfast broadband, so staying in's no better.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Brotton's 97 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Fly-tipping97/10047.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Redcar and Cleveland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires94/10034.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson91/10011.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband62/10010.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.8% across the Redcar and Cleveland council area
- Rain54/100130 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour42/10014.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills41/100186 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene29/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 31 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution8/1004.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions8/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
| 9 | Whitby | 64 |
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| – | Brotton | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Brotton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 88.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 16% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.7 per 10,000 people, 5.3x the typical town's 0.7
- Good Saltburn's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Brotton Library (2024)
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.42pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 6.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 12.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Better: 66% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,533 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Redcar and Cleveland council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 7% of Redcar and Cleveland council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 56% lower than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Brotton 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.