Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Eccles
Eccles
98/100Crap Score
22nd crappest of 984 towns, and 5th 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
Eccles cakes. Made in Ardwick.
Eccles has one claim to fame and it's baked in Manchester. The market's gone and the precinct's going.
Eccles gave the world a currant pastry that kids call a dead fly pie, and you can't buy a local one in town. The market's been flattened and the precinct's got that waiting-for-the-bulldozer look, with a settee dumped round the back. The tram ends here. Even the tram's had enough.
The air's nearly twice the typical town's for nitrogen dioxide, a 0 to 2 hygiene rating is nearly two and a half times as common here as in the typical town, and drug and weapons offences both run at more than twice the typical town's rate. There's barely anywhere for the kids to play. The busiest bit of Eccles is the jam on Barton Bridge, and that's the motorway.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Eccles's 89 for air pollution means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Air pollution89/10015.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene89/1005.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 276 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping88/10024.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Salford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson82/10010.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Deliberate fires81/10013.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills79/100842 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain79/100154 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour74/10019.4 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions73/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband20/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Salford council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester | 99 |
| 2 | Salford | 99 |
| 3 | Clifton | 98 |
| 4 | Farnworth | 98 |
| 5 | Eccles | 98 |
| 6 | Heywood | 97 |
| 7 | Kearsley | 96 |
| 8 | Walkden | 95 |
| 9 | Bolton | 94 |
Eccles by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 104 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 36% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 12 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.9 per 10,000 people, 15% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
What's left on the high street
- 21 pubs, 16 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.4% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 41) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.4 per 100,000 people, 29% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.2 per 10,000 people, 71% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.36am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 33.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,407 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Salford council
Have a crap-off
Eccles 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.