Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Burton Latimer
Burton Latimer
34/100Crap Score
654th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Northamptonshire. 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
Burton Latimer. Lorries, mainly.
The cereal factory feeds the country. Its lorries flatten Finedon Road.
Burton Latimer makes breakfast cereal and not much else these days. The shoe factories are gone. The cereal lorries thunder down Finedon Road all day, so nobody in town needs telling what's for breakfast. The evening buses to Kettering are thin on the ground. Kettering. Imagine wanting a night out in Kettering.
Nobody nicks anything, to be fair. Crime's well under the typical town's. But there's less than a square metre of public park a head and no pool, the anti-social behaviour's shot up lately, and the bins get set on fire.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Burton Latimer's 71 for air pollution means it's crapper than 71% of towns.
- Air pollution71/1008.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires62/1007.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour56/10016.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene48/1002.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 44 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills29/10089.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions28/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain21/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband18/1003.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson17/1004.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
| 10 | Desborough | 21 |
| 11 | Brackley | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Burton Latimer by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 42.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 44% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 199 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 191 per 10,000 people, 56.2x 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, 2 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower 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
- 11.41pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,548 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Burton Latimer 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.