Crap Towns / Essex / Buckhurst Hill
Buckhurst Hill
37/100Crap Score
625th crappest of 984 towns, and 17th in Essex. 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
Another fucking salon.
Posh, salons everywhere, and somehow more fly-tipping than most.
Buckhurst Hill has Epping Forest on the doorstep and houses that cost a fortune. Queen's Road is salon, salon, boutique, salon. You can get your lashes done but you can't buy a pint of milk.
The forest's right there and the air's still filthy, with nitrogen dioxide 1.7 times the typical town's. The storm overflows spill for 2.6 times as long as the typical town's, and Epping Forest council logs more than twice the typical council's fly-tipping. All that money and they still won't go to the tip. Hardly any yobs, mind. The car thieves like it, though.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Buckhurst Hill's 95 for air pollution means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Air pollution95/10014.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping87/10023.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Epping Forest council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills75/100722 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband61/1008.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 11.9% across the Epping Forest council area
- Food hygiene40/1001.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 59 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions37/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain16/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour2/1003.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires0/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Grays | 46 |
| 14 | Chigwell | 43 |
| 15 | Loughton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | South Ockendon | 37 |
| 17 | Buckhurst Hill | 37 |
| 18 | Thundersley and South Benfleet | 32 |
| 19 | Billericay | 29 |
| 20 | Witham | 28 |
| 21 | Harwich | 23 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Buckhurst Hill by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.4 per 10,000 people, about the same as 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
- 5 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 2 bookmakers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 12.41am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than 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%
- 31.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,601 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Epping Forest council
- £2,277 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £115 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Buckhurst Hill 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.