Crap Towns / South Yorkshire / Doncaster
Doncaster
88/100Crap Score
People from here are Doncastrians. They call it Donny.
118th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in South Yorkshire. 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
Fast trains. Slow town centre.
Donny built Mallard and the Flying Scotsman. Its town centre's boarded up and kicked in.
Donny built the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman, and it's got the St Leger. It's also got empty shops, boarded windows and Silver Street on a Saturday night. Locals slag it off all day. Agree with them and you'll be told Rotherham's worse.
Crime runs at nearly two and a half times the typical town's rate. Burglary's three times, car crime three and a half, and serious crashes nearly two and a half, so if they don't nick it they'll drive into it. 12 of its 103 rated takeaways score 0 to 2. Rotherham is crapper, to be fair. Donny will tell you that for nothing.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Doncaster's 99 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Serious road collisions99/1005.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene98/1009.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 662 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson96/10015.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires94/10030.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour88/10025.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution85/10010.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills36/100141 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping31/1008.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Doncaster council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain12/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband5/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.6% across the Doncaster council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Mexborough | 92 |
| 7 | Dinnington | 92 |
| 8 | Bentley | 91 |
| 9 | Wombwell | 91 |
| 10 | Doncaster | 88 |
| 11 | Hoyland | 88 |
| 12 | Wath upon Dearne | 85 |
| 13 | Swallownest and Aston | 80 |
| 14 | Conisbrough | 79 |
Doncaster by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 182 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.2 per 10,000 people, 78% lower than the typical town's 0.9
- 15 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 48 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 11 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 13 banks, 5 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 11.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (12 of 103) Worse: 2.9x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.1 per 100,000 people, 68% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 7 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 4 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.42am 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%
- 32.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,500 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Doncaster council
Have a crap-off
Doncaster 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.