Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Droylsden
Droylsden
70/100Crap Score
299th crappest of 984 towns, and 45th in Greater Manchester. 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
Droylsden put a pig on a wall.
Lifted a pig onto a wall so it could watch the carnival go past. That's still the big story.
Droylsden is the Silly Country, on account of the locals once lifting a pig onto a wall so it could watch the carnival go past. Nothing that exciting has happened since. It came up with the machine-made terry towel, and the town centre's been waiting to be regenerated for about as long, while the empty buildings sit there.
The air's filthy, getting on for twice the typical town's nitrogen dioxide, and the sun manages 1,341 hours. There are 2 hairdressers for the whole town. The rest of Tameside forgets it's there.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Droylsden's 92 for air pollution means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Air pollution92/10014.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain80/100157 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires78/10011.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene76/1004.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 107 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping70/10015.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tameside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson64/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Sewage spills55/100339 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Broadband23/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.9% across the Tameside council area
- Serious road collisions22/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | Hyde | 75 |
| 42 | Atherton | 74 |
| 43 | Bredbury and Woodley | 72 |
| 44 | Shaw | 72 |
| 45 | Droylsden | 70 |
| 46 | Tyldesley | 68 |
| 47 | Westhoughton | 68 |
| 48 | Lees | 67 |
| 49 | Ramsbottom | 65 |
Droylsden by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 92.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 22% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 3.5x the typical town's 1.1
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 29) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.28am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 68% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,341 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 12% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Tameside council
Have a crap-off
Droylsden 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.