Crap Towns / Suffolk / Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds
3/100Crap Score
Known as BSE.
952nd crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Suffolk. 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 Bury St Edmunds? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Posh, and it stinks of beet
Nice market town. Smells like burnt sugar for months on end.
Bury St Edmunds is a posh market town and doesn't let you forget it. Then the beet factory starts and the whole place stinks of burnt syrup for months. Some locals call it Bezza St Ezza, mostly to wind the others up.
Teenagers have nothing to do and no way out of it: the buses after 7pm are 94% down on the typical town's, and Sunday's not much better. So somebody's always smashing something up. Not very posh. There are 9 public swimming pools, three times the typical town's per head, and nothing to do once you've dried off. And the smell. It really does smell.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bury St Edmunds's 70 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 70% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson70/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution61/1007.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband46/1002.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the West Suffolk council area
- Serious road collisions35/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour22/1007.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires19/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene13/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 317 food businesses with a rating
- Rain13/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills10/1008.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping0/1001.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Suffolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lowestoft | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Sudbury | 30 |
| 3 | Ipswich | 15 |
| 4 | Haverhill | 11 |
| 5 | Newmarket | 9 |
| 6 | Stowmarket | 7 |
| 7 | Felixstowe | 6 |
| 8 | Woodbridge | 4 |
| 9 | Bury St Edmunds | 3 |
| 10 | Kesgrave | 0 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bury St Edmunds by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 84.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 11% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 32 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.8 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 23 pubs, 43 hairdressers, 12 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 10 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 33) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.4 per 100,000 people, 29% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 23 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.6 per 10,000 people, 3.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 9 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 3.1x the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.31pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier 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%
- 12.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 21% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,632 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
West Suffolk council
- £2,351 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £41 less than the English average
- 22% of Suffolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bury St Edmunds 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.