Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Bury
Bury
85/100Crap Score
151st crappest of 984 towns, and 26th in Greater Manchester. 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? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bury. World famous in Bury.
They'll tell you the market's world famous. Ask them where else they've heard of it.
Bury's got a market people come on coaches for, and every local will tell you it's world famous. They'll correct how you say Bury while they're at it. It's Berry. The indoor hall's shut, mind, so the world has to make do with the stalls outside.
The black pudding's top notch. The takeaways aren't. More than one in five is rated 0 to 2 for hygiene, over five times the typical town's share. Seven libraries have shut for good since 2010. The interchange leaks, which in a town where it chucks it down on 170 days a year is a bit of an oversight.
The football club got kicked out of the league in 2019 and had to start again from scratch. Bolton and Rochdale still haven't stopped laughing.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bury's 95 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Food hygiene95/1007.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 462 food businesses with a rating
- Rain92/100170 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires84/10015.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution76/10012.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping73/10015.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bury council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills63/100467 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson58/1007.7 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions58/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour45/10014.7 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Broadband24/1004.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Bury council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Leigh | 88 |
| 23 | Uppermill | 87 |
| 24 | Royton | 86 |
| 25 | Ince-in-Makerfield | 86 |
| 26 | Bury | 85 |
| 27 | Littleborough | 84 |
| 28 | Chadderton | 84 |
| 29 | Old Trafford | 83 |
| 30 | Irlam | 83 |
Bury by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 87.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 65% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 8 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 37 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 7 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 21.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (22 of 102) Worse: 5.4x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.2 per 100,000 people, 65% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 libraries shut for good since 2010: South Cross Street library (2015), New Kershaw Centre Library (2016), Brandlesholme Community Centre & Library (2017), Castle Leisure Centre Library (2017), Moorside Community Centre & Library (2017), Topping Fold Community Centre & Library (2017) and Unsworth Library (2017)
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 7 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.38am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 27.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,356 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bury council
Have a crap-off
Bury 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.