Crap Towns / Lancashire / Darwen
Darwen
99/100Crap Score
12th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th 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
Got something to say about Darwen? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Blackburn? Say that again.
Big tower, big chimneys, big chip on its shoulder about Blackburn.
Darwen has a tower on the moor, a mill chimney the size of a cathedral spire and a permanent sulk about being lumped in with Blackburn. Locals fought for years for the right to walk on those moors. Now they've got it, the reservoirs get covered in party rubbish and nuisance bikes tear round them.
It rains on 178 days a year, more than Blackburn, which must sting. The sun gets 1,337 hours. Anti-social behaviour sits at twice the typical town's rate, and a 0 to 2 hygiene rating is more than three times as common here as in the typical town. There's one hairdresser. Better than Blackburn? Mate, that's not saying much.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Darwen's 97 for rain means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Rain97/100178 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour94/10030.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene94/1008.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 173 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping89/10025.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Blackburn with Darwen council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions84/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires80/10012.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson70/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills57/100359 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband54/1009.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.5% across the Blackburn with Darwen council area
- Air pollution47/1008.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padiham | 100 |
| 2 | Blackburn | 100 |
| 3 | Colne | 99 |
| 4 | Bacup | 99 |
| 5 | Darwen | 99 |
| 6 | Lancaster | 99 |
| 7 | Accrington | 99 |
| 8 | Burnley | 98 |
| 9 | Preston | 98 |
Darwen by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 87.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 29 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 10.4 per 10,000 people, 9.5x the typical town's 1.1
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 bank, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 39) Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 banking hub opened here
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.36pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 29.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,337 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 13% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Blackburn with Darwen council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 more than the English average
- 22% of Blackburn with Darwen council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Darwen 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.