Crap Towns / Hampshire / Fareham
Fareham
20/100Crap Score
791st crappest of 984 towns, and 13th in Hampshire. 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
Fareham. Pick a lane.
A Georgian high street, an old quay, and a roundabout nobody understands.
Fareham's red bricks went off to build famous buildings and had the sense not to come back. The town's got a nice Georgian high street and the Quay Street roundabout, which baffles anyone who goes near it. Everyone heading to Gosport clogs the roads in, the rest rat-run through the middle, and the crashes are bad.
Over half the town lives further than 400 metres from a park or play area. Fort Fareham is on the Heritage at Risk list. A Victorian fort, built to stop an invasion, and it can't stop the damp.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Fareham's 80 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 80% of towns.
- Serious road collisions80/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires55/1006.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution54/1009.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene43/1002.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 226 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills39/100173 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain32/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson30/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour21/10010.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband5/1002.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 2.3% across the Fareham council area
- Fly-tipping1/1002.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Fareham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Totton | 28 |
| 10 | Petersfield | 26 |
| 11 | Aldershot | 23 |
| 12 | Tadley | 22 |
| 13 | Fareham | 20 |
| 14 | Lymington | 18 |
| 15 | Emsworth | 17 |
| 16 | Waterlooville | 14 |
| 17 | Fleet | 14 |
Fareham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 69.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 8% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 130 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 30.5 per 10,000 people, 9x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 18 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 5 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 19) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 9 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 31% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.45am 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%
- 53.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,696 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Fareham council
- £2,271 Band D council tax (2026-27) Better: £121 less than the English average
- 8% of Hampshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Fareham 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.