Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Castleford
Castleford
88/100Crap Score
115th crappest of 984 towns, and 15th in West Yorkshire. 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
Vegas, is it? Is it bollocks.
Proper rugby town. The Tigers are great and the high street is a mess.
Castleford calls itself Cas Vegas and the bookies are doing their best, all 7 of them. The Tigers are the best thing about the place by a mile. The centre's empty shops, Greggs, litter and lads doing wheelies down the high street. Featherstone hate them. Featherstone would.
Away from the Jungle it's a busy old place for the police. Crime is up at nearly twice the typical town's rate, car crime at two and a half times, and the bins go up in flames at about seven times. Even the Halifax has gone. Ponte Carlo's down the road, and that's no better.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Castleford's 90 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Deliberate fires90/10022.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour88/10016.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson88/10011.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions83/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping75/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wakefield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution75/10010.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills72/100647 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene29/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 341 food businesses with a rating
- Rain28/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband13/1002.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Wakefield council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Pontefract | 92 |
| 12 | South Elmsall | 91 |
| 13 | Cleckheaton | 90 |
| 14 | Leeds | 89 |
| 15 | Castleford | 88 |
| 16 | Baildon | 84 |
| 17 | Mirfield | 81 |
| 18 | Bingley | 80 |
| 19 | Liversedge | 80 |
Castleford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 138 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 76.2
- 22 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.9 per 10,000 people, 44% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 33 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 7 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 6 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 75) Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.2 per 100,000 people, 35% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.2 per 10,000 people, 71% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.49pm 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%
- 20.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 34% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,398 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 9% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Wakefield council
- £2,297 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 less than the English average
- 19% of Wakefield council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Castleford 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.