Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Bushey
Bushey
42/100Crap Score
574th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Hertfordshire. 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 Bushey? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Never, ever say Watford
Artists used to live here. The town still expects credit for it.
Bushey is the posh bit of Watford and goes white if you say Watford. There's a rose garden, a museum and a lot of fuss about some painters who lived here once. The big scandal is that Kemp Place isn't free to park in any more.
Bad news for Bushey: it scores crapper than Watford. The air's grubbier than the typical town's, with nitrogen dioxide 41% higher, and the food places are 1.7 times as likely to have a low hygiene rating. There are 6 pubs and 2 hairdressers. Up in Bushey Heath the Range Rovers park on the pavement and the pushchairs go in the road.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Bushey's 88 for air pollution means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Air pollution88/10011.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene72/1004.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 121 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping59/10011.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Hertsmere council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions55/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband52/1007.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.2% across the Hertsmere council area
- Anti-social behaviour43/10014.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires29/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson21/1005.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain20/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills8/100
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Hemel Hempstead | 50 |
| 5 | Stevenage | 50 |
| 6 | Baldock | 45 |
| 7 | Potters Bar | 43 |
| 8 | Bushey | 42 |
| 9 | Welwyn Garden City | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Watford | 38 |
| 11 | Hitchin | 35 |
| 12 | Letchworth | 28 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Bushey by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 51.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 32% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 75 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 26.4 per 10,000 people, 7.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 10.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 10) Worse: 2.5x the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 5 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.26am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 23% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,611 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Hertsmere council
- £2,406 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £14 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Bushey 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.