Crap Towns / Gloucestershire / Dursley
Dursley
39/100Crap Score
Known as Drugsley, which the police figures don't back up.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 39. 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
Harry Potter had been, obviously
Old mill and engine town. Now it's vape shops and lads going the wrong way round the one-way.
Dursley used to make engines and wool. Now it makes noise, mostly lads revving up Silver Street and going the wrong way round the one-way system. The centre is vape shops, charity shops and litter, with over four times the typical town's vape shops per head.
The buses stop at 7.52pm, so after that the lads on Silver Street are the only thing moving. Locals call it Dirty Dursley. Harry Potter named the most horrible family in the books after it. Somebody had been.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dursley's 88 for broadband means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Broadband88/10016.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.2% across the Stroud council area
- Rain64/100136 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions61/1002.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour59/10016.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene45/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping38/1008.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Stroud council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson33/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires22/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution21/1005.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills11/1009.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Gloucester | 66 |
| 3 | Patchway | 57 |
| 4 | Cheltenham | 54 |
| 5 | Stroud | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.– | Dursley | 39 |
| 6 | Kingswood and Fishponds | 39 |
| 7 | Tewkesbury | 38 |
| 8 | Quedgeley and Hardwicke | 37 |
| 9 | Cirencester | 36 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dursley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 58.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 23% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 466 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 587 per 10,000 people, 172.6x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 7.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than 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%
- 1,581 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Stroud council
- £2,491 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £99 more than the English average
- 26% of Gloucestershire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Dursley 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.