Crap Towns / Oxfordshire / Chinnor
Chinnor
1/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 1. 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
Chinnor. Nothing to see.
A steam railway and a restored windmill. Chinnor is terribly pleased with itself.
Chinnor is so well behaved it's irritating. Crime is well under half the typical town's, nobody smashes anything, and not one storm overflow near it spilled from 2023 to 2025. They film Midsomer Murders round here because nothing real ever happens. Locals used to read the weather off the cement works chimney. That's gone, so now they moan about the new houses instead.
There's a steam railway to Princes Risborough, a windmill they've done up and over twice the typical town's play spaces per head. The last bus pulls out at 9.48pm, which is about when Chinnor goes to bed anyway.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Chinnor's 68 for broadband means it's crapper than 68% of towns.
- Broadband68/1008.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.2% across the South Oxfordshire council area
- Rain40/100124 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene36/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 19 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution33/1005.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires25/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour16/1006.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping13/1005.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Oxfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions9/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson5/1003.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Abingdon-on-Thames | 15 |
| 5 | Didcot | 13 |
| 6 | Bicester | 12 |
| 7 | Henley-on-Thames | 7 |
| 8 | Carterton | 5 |
| 9 | Wantage | 5 |
| 10 | Thame | 5 |
| 11 | Kidlington | 2 |
| – | Chinnor | 1 |
Chinnor by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 31.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 59% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 249 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 343 per 10,000 people, 100.9x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than 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
- 9.48pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 75% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,512 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
South Oxfordshire council
- £2,598 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £206 more than the English average
- 20% of Oxfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 25% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Chinnor 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.