Crap Towns / Cornwall / Camborne
Camborne
42/100Crap Score
568th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Cornwall. 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
The C in C.R.A.P.
Camborne sent its mining kit all over the world. It kept the weeds and the empty shops.
Camborne was the centre of the mining world once. Trevithick drove his steam carriage up Camborne Hill, and it's been downhill ever since. Weeds and litter in the streets, shops either empty or charity shops, and the vandals are busy.
The banks have announced 5 branch closures, over seven times the typical town's rate, and superfast broadband misses 4.9% of premises, nearly ten times the typical town's share. There's no public swimming pool either. Redruth calls it Scamborne. Camborne calls Redruth something worse.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Camborne's 93 for broadband means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Broadband93/10015.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Criminal damage and arson85/10010.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain80/100156 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour73/10019.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires58/1006.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills54/100327 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions33/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping16/1005.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cornwall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene9/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 84 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution8/1004.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Liskeard | 58 |
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Saltash | 38 |
| 10 | Redruth | 33 |
| 11 | Helston | 25 |
| 12 | Penryn | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Camborne by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 90.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 19% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.4 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 12 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 16) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 24.4 per 100,000 people, 7.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x 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
- 12.21am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 4.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 9.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 12.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 23% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,652 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Camborne 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.