Crap Towns / Norfolk / Caister-on-Sea
Caister-on-Sea
19/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 19. 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
At least it isn't Yarmouth
An independent lifeboat and a village that gets arsey about being mistaken for Yarmouth.
Caister's proud of its lifeboat crews, who famously never turn back, and of not being Great Yarmouth. Fair on both. The rest is holiday camps, the bits of a Roman fort and a sea front that fills up every summer and empties every September.
The sea's rated Excellent, the sun's out 1,763 hours a year and there isn't a single public park on the map. Great Yarmouth council logs more than three times the typical council's fly-tipping, and Caister gets its share. Still, it's not Yarmouth. They'll tell you.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Caister-on-Sea's 94 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Fly-tipping94/10033.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Great Yarmouth council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene45/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband37/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.3% across the Great Yarmouth council area
- Air pollution36/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions29/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires29/1004.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills24/10060.9 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain17/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson14/1004.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour5/1007.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Thetford | 49 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Dereham | 35 |
| 7 | Downham Market | 33 |
| 8 | Bradwell | 33 |
| – | Caister-on-Sea | 19 |
| 9 | Wymondham | 18 |
| 10 | North Walsham | 17 |
| 11 | Watton | 10 |
| 12 | Attleborough | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Caister-on-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 45.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.5 per 10,000 people, 7.9x the typical town's 0.7
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
- 2 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 15) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.06am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 31.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,763 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 15% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Great Yarmouth council
- £2,414 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £22 more than the English average
- 8% of Norfolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Caister-on-Sea 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.