Crap Towns / Lancashire / Carnforth
Carnforth
81/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 81. 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
Nice clock. Train's in. Get on it.
A famous old film used the station. The town's been living off it ever since.
Carnforth's station was in Brief Encounter and the town hasn't stopped going on about it. Nice clock. Away from the station it's charity shops, hairdressers, pubs and a Greggs, more of each per head than most towns, with lorries thundering through the Market Street crossroads and serious crashes at 1.6 times the typical town's rate.
The storm overflows round Carnforth spilled for 4,974 hours per 10,000 people a year, more than eighteen times the typical town. The film's better.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Carnforth's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1004,974 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping87/10023.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Lancaster council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain81/100157 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions81/1003.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour65/10017.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene50/1002.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 39 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband41/1005.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.9% across the Lancaster council area
- Criminal damage and arson29/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires20/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution8/1004.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Blackpool | 92 |
| 18 | Fleetwood | 91 |
| 19 | Skelmersdale | 85 |
| 20 | Fulwood | 82 |
| – | Carnforth | 81 |
| 21 | Chorley | 81 |
| 22 | Clitheroe | 77 |
| 23 | Bamber Bridge | 72 |
| 24 | Leyland | 69 |
Carnforth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 52.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 31% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.8 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.1 per 100,000 people, 5x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.1 per 10,000 people, 3.2x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.34pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 10.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,539 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Lancaster council
Have a crap-off
Carnforth 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.