Crap Towns / Dyfed / Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes
Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes
69/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 69. 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
Got something to say about Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Lovely cinema. Can't reach it.
Nice old cinema. Shame you'll be stuck on the roundabout.
Cross Hands has a lovely Art Deco cinema and a roundabout that won't let you anywhere near it. You can sit for ages trying to get out of the Aldi car park, and the junctions on the dual carriageway see serious crashes at two and a half times the typical town's rate.
Pen-y-groes dug coal. Now the water company lets sewage out for nearly 28 times as long as in the typical town, and it chucks it down on 181 days a year to wash it all through. There's 1 pub. There's a Greggs, at least.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1007,657 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain98/100181 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions96/1005.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping77/10017.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Carmarthenshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband74/1005.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 27.0% across the Carmarthenshire council area
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Criminal damage and arson41/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene15/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 61 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour13/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution2/1003.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmarthen | 91 |
| 2 | Llanelli | 90 |
| 3 | Milford Haven | 87 |
| 4 | Haverfordwest | 84 |
| 5 | Aberystwyth | 78 |
| – | Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes | 69 |
Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.9 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.32pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 22.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 43% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,467 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Carmarthenshire council
Have a crap-off
Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes 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.