Crap Towns / Norfolk / Cromer
Cromer
2/100Crap Score
People from here are Crabs.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 2. 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
Couldn't find much wrong. Furious.
Cromer's got a pier, the crab and bugger all to slag off. Except the parking.
Cromer's a nice little seaside town with a pier, an end-of-pier show and the crab everyone's heard of. It's tidy, the kitchens are clean and both its bathing waters came out Excellent, which is no bloody use to us. On a sunny day every car in Norfolk turns up and there's nowhere to put them.
So we'll take what we can get. There are 9 charity shops, getting on for nine times the typical town's share, and public toilets at five times it, so you can browse the jigsaws and have a wee in comfort. HSBC and Lloyds have both packed up and gone. The Shannocks up the coast in Sheringham have never been happier.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Cromer's 96 for broadband means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Broadband96/10016.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 45.5% across the North Norfolk council area
- Criminal damage and arson31/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions24/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution24/1005.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires24/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain22/100118 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
- Food hygiene15/1000.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 123 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills9/1006.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping5/1004.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Norfolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Dereham | 35 |
| 7 | Downham Market | 33 |
| 8 | Bradwell | 33 |
| 9 | Wymondham | 18 |
| 10 | North Walsham | 17 |
| 11 | Watton | 10 |
| 12 | Attleborough | 4 |
| – | Cromer | 2 |
| 13 | Taverham and Drayton | 1 |
Cromer by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 65.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 14% 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: 5.3 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 9 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 13) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 26.6 per 100,000 people, 7.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 8.0 per 10,000 people, 5x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 7.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 52% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,712 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 12% higher than the typical town's 1,532
North Norfolk council
- £2,460 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £68 more than the English average
- 8% of Norfolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Cromer 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.