Crap Towns / Lancashire / Chorley
Chorley
81/100Crap Score
191st crappest of 984 towns, and 21st in Lancashire. 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
Don't sing the jingle. We mean it.
Chorley cakes, a decent market and a lad on an e-bike doing laps of the precinct.
Chorley has a decent Tuesday market and its own cake, and the second you say the name some dickhead does the Phoenix Nights jingle at you. The town centre is vape shops, phone shops, charity shops and hairdressers, more of the last two per head than most towns, with lads on e-bikes weaving through the shoppers.
Anti-social behaviour is up at 2.4 times the typical town's rate. You get rain on 164 days a year and the sun shows its face for 1,379 hours, so the market's mostly done under a brolly. Locals say it's near Manchester. It isn't.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Chorley's 96 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour96/10033.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain88/100164 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions74/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson74/1008.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires71/1009.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills66/100524 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution53/1009.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene52/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 317 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping28/1007.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Chorley council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband23/1003.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.9% across the Chorley council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Blackpool | 92 |
| 18 | Fleetwood | 91 |
| 19 | Skelmersdale | 85 |
| 20 | Fulwood | 82 |
| 21 | Chorley | 81 |
| 22 | Clitheroe | 77 |
| 23 | Bamber Bridge | 72 |
| 24 | Leyland | 69 |
| 25 | Cleveleys | 64 |
Chorley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 91.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 19% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 24 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.1 per 10,000 people, 6.8x the typical town's 0.9
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 38 pubs, 45 hairdressers, 18 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 5 vape shops, 7 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 64) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 5.1 per 100,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% 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
- 12.10am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 48% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,379 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Chorley council
- £2,430 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £38 more than the English average
- 26% of Lancashire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Chorley 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.