Crap Towns / Highland / Dingwall
Dingwall
23/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 23. 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 Dingwall? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Dingwall. Mostly charity shops.
A wee county town with a top-flight football club and a High Street that's turning into one big charity shop.
Dingwall got its football club into the top flight, which for a town this size is a miracle, and it's all anyone there wants to talk about. Walk down the High Street instead and it's charity shops and hairdressers. Charity shops come in at about eight times the typical town's rate. It has 2 pubs. You'd think that would be the other way round.
Bank of Scotland and RBS both shut their branches, and 43.3% of premises still can't get gigabit broadband in the county town. The air's spotless and the gulls scream all night. Inverness reckons Dingwall is a village with a football team, and on derby day the Staggies' lot have plenty to say back.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dingwall's 99 for broadband means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Broadband99/10043.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 36.7% across the Highland council area
- Rain78/100154 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene55/1006.3% told to improve, of the 48 food businesses inspected
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Anti-social behaviour47/1007.9 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Criminal damage and arson45/1006.6 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Deliberate fires28/10011.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions4/1000.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution0/1002.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inverness | 66 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.– | Dingwall | 23 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dingwall by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 50.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 8% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 11.4 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 38.0 per 100,000 people, 11.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 7.6 per 10,000 people, 4.8x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.09am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 5% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,209 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 21% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Highland council
- £1,634 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £19 less than the Scottish average
- 43% of Highland council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than Scotland's 36%
- 99 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Worse: 42.1 per 100,000 residents, 21% higher than Scotland's 34.7
- 95.3% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Dingwall 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.