Crap Towns / Oxfordshire / Didcot
Didcot
13/100Crap Score
856th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in Oxfordshire. 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
Change here for somewhere better.
Somebody called it England's most normal town. Didcot took it as a compliment.
Didcot was named England's most normal town, and it's been living down to it ever since. The cooling towers came down, so there's nothing to look at. The new estates are miles from the station, there's no nightlife and the schools are full.
Stay in and it's no better. 3.5 times the typical town's share of its takeaways are rated 0 to 2, so the Friday curry's a gamble. Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds have all shut a branch. The best thing about Didcot is still Didcot Parkway, where you get a train somewhere else.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Didcot's 84 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Food hygiene84/1005.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 119 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband58/1005.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.2% across the South Oxfordshire council area
- Sewage spills47/100244 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution41/1007.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour34/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires24/1003.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson23/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain17/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping13/1005.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Oxfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions3/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oxford | 62 |
| 2 | Banbury | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.3 | Witney | 20 |
| 4 | Abingdon-on-Thames | 15 |
| 5 | Didcot | 13 |
| 6 | Bicester | 12 |
| 7 | Henley-on-Thames | 7 |
| 8 | Carterton | 5 |
| 9 | Wantage | 5 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Didcot by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 57.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 24% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 888 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 257 per 10,000 people, 367.1x the typical town's 0.7
- 11 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 13.8% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 29) Worse: 3.5x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 8.7 per 100,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.54am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,510 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
South Oxfordshire council
- £2,598 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £206 more than the English average
- 20% of Oxfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 25% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Didcot 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.