Crap Towns / West Midlands / Darlaston
Darlaston
71/100Crap Score
290th crappest of 984 towns, and 13th in the West Midlands. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Darlaston. Not much left.
They made nuts and bolts for the world. Now it's a scruffy centre and dodgy kitchens.
Darlaston made nuts, bolts and gun locks for the world. Now the centre's scruffy and there's nowt in the shops: 4 pubs, 1 hairdresser and a couple of bookies. The regeneration plans get drawn up without asking anyone who lives here, and they chopped the trees down behind Asda.
The air's filthy, with nitrogen dioxide at 1.8 times the typical town's, and somebody helps it along by setting fire to the bins at three times the typical town's rate. Low hygiene ratings are 2.6 times as common as in the typical town, so eating out's a gamble too, and cars get nicked well above the usual rate. Lovely organ in the Town Hall. Big deal.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Darlaston's 96 for air pollution means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Air pollution96/10014.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires87/10017.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene84/1006.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 97 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson79/1009.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping77/10017.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Walsall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain55/100130 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions46/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour40/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills26/10075.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband13/1002.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Walsall council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Willenhall | 74 |
| 10 | Rushall and Shelfield | 73 |
| 11 | Oldbury | 72 |
| 12 | Tipton | 72 |
| 13 | Darlaston | 71 |
| 14 | Smethwick | 70 |
| 15 | Bilston | 68 |
| 16 | Pelsall | 65 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 58 |
Darlaston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 105 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 38% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical town's 0.7
- 8 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 2 bookmakers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 16) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 4.6 per 100,000 people, 35% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.23am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 30.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,439 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Walsall council
Have a crap-off
Darlaston 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.