Crap Towns / Cumbria / Dalton-in-Furness
Dalton-in-Furness
7/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 7. 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
'The plant pots have to go.'
It used to be the capital of Furness. Now the big news is a row about pots on the pavement.
Dalton-in-Furness was once the capital of all Furness. These days the biggest row in town in years was the council telling people to take their plant pots off the pavement. That's the level. Crime is low, anti-social behaviour barely registers and hardly anybody crashes. Insufferable.
It rains on 162 days a year, over 1,100 mm of it, so the plant pots get watered whether anyone likes it or not. There's about enough public park per person to stand one on, and the dog muck round Beckside covers the rest.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dalton-in-Furness's 85 for rain means it's crapper than 85% of towns.
- Rain85/100162 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson52/1007.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills50/100277 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband42/1001.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.2% across the Westmorland and Furness council area
- Fly-tipping34/1008.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Westmorland and Furness council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene25/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 39 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires13/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour5/1004.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution4/1003.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions3/1000.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitehaven | 75 |
| 2 | Workington | 75 |
| 3 | Barrow-in-Furness | 65 |
| 4 | Carlisle | 62 |
| 5 | Ulverston | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Penrith | 25 |
| 7 | Kendal | 20 |
| – | Dalton-in-Furness | 7 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dalton-in-Furness by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 50.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 34% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.24am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 3.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 78% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,535 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Westmorland and Furness council
- £2,508 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £116 more than the English average
- 26% of Westmorland and Furness council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x England's 16%
- 8 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Dalton-in-Furness 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.