Crap Towns / East Lothian / Dunbar
Dunbar
13/100Crap Score
859th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in East Lothian. 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 Dunbar? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Dunbar. Smug in the sunshine.
Sunny Dunny, the locals call it, in a country nobody visits for the sun, and they never let you forget it.
Dunbar is Sunny Dunny, a harbour town on the east coast with a ruined castle, rockpools and only 116 days of rain a year, which in Scotland makes it the Riviera. Crime runs at about half the typical Scottish town's. The gulls, to be fair, run the place, and Musselburgh is welcome to the crap title round here.
The catch is in the water. Storm overflows near Dunbar spilled for 1,369 hours per 10,000 people in 2025, five times the typical town's. Sunny Dunny, and the sea's full of shite.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dunbar's 88 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Sewage spills88/1001,369 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Deliberate fires50/10022.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene45/1004.6% told to improve, of the 65 food businesses inspected
- Broadband36/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.2% across the East Lothian council area
- Rain17/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour14/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Serious road collisions5/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution0/1003.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Musselburgh | 74 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Haddington | 27 |
| 3 | Tranent | 20 |
| 4 | Prestonpans | 18 |
| 5 | Dunbar | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dunbar by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 27.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 49% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 84% lower than the typical Scottish town's 5.6
- 0 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 9.3 per 100,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.7 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.40am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,457 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
East Lothian council
- £1,698 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £45 more than the Scottish average
- 34% of East Lothian council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 38 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, 1 upheld About the same: 33.8 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 91.0% 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
Dunbar 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.