Crap Towns / Nottinghamshire / Carlton
Carlton
25/100Crap Score
739th crappest of 984 towns, and 19th in Nottinghamshire. 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
Carlton. Still missing Wilko.
Climb a bloody great hill for some shops. Wilko's not there any more.
Carlton is a big place with its shops at the top of a steep hill and a square hidden round the back where nobody can find it. Wilko shut and the locals still haven't got over it. There are 43 hairdressers, so if you make it up the hill, at least you'll look nice at the top.
There's hardly any public park, and the air carries about a third more nitrogen dioxide than the typical town's. The lake at Colwick is rated Excellent for a swim, which is the nicest thing anyone's said about Carlton in years. Not great, not awful. Just Carlton.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Carlton's 83 for air pollution means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Air pollution83/10011.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills58/100389 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions53/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene44/1002.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 222 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping33/1008.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Gedling council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson24/1005.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain24/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour21/10010.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires18/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband17/1002.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.5% across the Gedling council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Forest Town | 55 |
| 13 | Mansfield Woodhouse | 55 |
| 14 | Balderton | 54 |
| 15 | New Ollerton and Ollerton | 54 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | Beeston | 35 |
| 17 | West Bridgford | 33 |
| 18 | Arnold | 25 |
| 19 | Carlton | 25 |
| 20 | Bingham | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Carlton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 52.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 31% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 18 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
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Excellent Colwick Country Park (West Lake)'s bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 17 pubs, 43 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 3 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 39) Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.9 per 100,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than 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
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 29.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,509 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Gedling council
- £2,610 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £218 more than the English average
- 19% of Nottinghamshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Carlton 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.