Crap Towns / Norfolk / Diss
Diss
27/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 27. 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 noticeboard's where it all kicks off
Diss has a Mere they say is bottomless. And a noticeboard full of complaints.
Diss has a Mere locals reckon is bottomless, a nice old Corn Hall and a Friday market. Then there's the high street: 22 hairdressers, 9 charity shops and vape shops at ten times the typical town's share. Barclays, Halifax and Lloyds have all shut up shop since 2022. Nothing happens of an evening. Not a thing.
On a Sunday the buses leave 18 times, all day. So everyone stays in and gets on the community noticeboards, which is where the worst trouble in Diss goes on, and everyone moans about everything. The real anti-social behaviour is well below the typical town's. They're saving it all for the comments.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Diss's 96 for broadband means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Broadband96/10024.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 28.3% across the South Norfolk council area
- Food hygiene64/1003.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 82 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills61/100440 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson50/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions45/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution40/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires29/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain22/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping11/1004.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Norfolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour10/1008.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Thetford | 49 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Dereham | 35 |
| 7 | Downham Market | 33 |
| 8 | Bradwell | 33 |
| – | Diss | 27 |
| 9 | Wymondham | 18 |
| 10 | North Walsham | 17 |
| 11 | Watton | 10 |
| 12 | Attleborough | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Diss by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 66.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 39 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 40.6 per 10,000 people, 11.9x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 22 hairdressers, 9 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 14) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 31.3 per 100,000 people, 9.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.1 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.20pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 2.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 85% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,651 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
South Norfolk council
- £2,483 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £91 more than the English average
- 8% of Norfolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Diss 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.