Crap Towns / Hampshire / Farnborough
Farnborough
10/100Crap Score
884th crappest of 984 towns, and 22nd 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
The planes are the best bit
The planes are the exciting bit. The town centre's been getting regenerated for years.
Farnborough has the airshow, a load of aerospace firms and private jets taking off for somewhere better. Can't blame them. The town centre's dull, the shops keep changing hands and the regeneration's gone on so long nobody notices. No nightlife, so everyone goes to Aldershot and pretends they didn't. Check the hygiene rating.
For a town full of aerospace firms, 212 premises can't even get 10 Mbit/s broadband, the legal minimum. They can put a jet in the air but not your emails. Since 2010, 3 public pools have closed for good.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Farnborough's 80 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 80% of towns.
- Food hygiene80/1004.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 302 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution73/10010.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions38/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills21/10045.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain20/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband19/1004.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.8% across the Rushmoor council area
- Criminal damage and arson19/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping17/1005.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rushmoor council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires14/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour13/1008.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Yateley | 12 |
| 19 | Andover | 11 |
| 20 | Winchester | 11 |
| 21 | Romsey | 11 |
| 22 | Farnborough | 10 |
| 23 | West End | 10 |
| 24 | Locks Heath | 9 |
| 25 | Alton | 9 |
| 26 | Hythe and Dibden Purlieu | 6 |
Farnborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 71.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 300 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 49.5 per 10,000 people, 14.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 8 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 20 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 5 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 41) Worse: 23% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 About the same: 3.3 per 100,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 11 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 13% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% 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
- 12.48am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 14% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,628 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Rushmoor council
- £2,320 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £72 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
Farnborough 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.