Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Dunstable
Dunstable
40/100Crap Score
586th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Bedfordshire. 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 Dunstable? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Lorries in, shops out.
Nice hills on the edge, lorries through the middle and shops that keep shutting.
Dunstable has the Downs, with gliders and kites and views for miles. Then you come back down into town. The shops keep closing, the lorries keep coming through the middle, and the banks have joined in: 5 branch closures announced since 2022, more than four times the typical town's rate.
Locals call it Dumpstable, or Sunny Dunny, and one of those is a lie. The council offices are in Priory House, which is on the Heritage at Risk register, so at least the council knows how the high street feels. It's next door to Luton, and that's not helping anybody.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dunstable's 68 for air pollution means it's crapper than 68% of towns.
- Air pollution68/1008.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene67/1003.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 174 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband60/1007.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Central Bedfordshire council area
- Deliberate fires56/1006.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour55/10015.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions44/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain41/100124 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping40/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Central Bedfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson34/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills5/1000.9 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luton | 66 |
| 2 | Bedford | 61 |
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
| 10 | Biggleswade | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dunstable by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 69.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 9% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 968 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 281 per 10,000 people, 255.5x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 34) Better: 28% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 14.5 per 100,000 people, 4.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.44am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,549 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Central Bedfordshire council
- £2,516 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £124 more than the English average
- 13% of Central Bedfordshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 17 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Dunstable 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.