Crap Towns / Suffolk / Felixstowe
Felixstowe
6/100Crap Score
Known as Felix's Toe.
925th crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Suffolk. 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 Felixstowe? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Big boats. Dead winters.
A nice seafront with the biggest container port in Britain parked next to it.
Felixstowe's got pretty seafront gardens, a pier and beach huts, and right next door the biggest container port in Britain. The lorry drivers park up in people's streets and leave litter, and worse, behind them. A row about motorhomes is as exciting as it gets. In winter it's dead.
The sun's out for 1,792 hours a year and both bathing waters came out Excellent, so the beach huts are doing nicely. The banks aren't. Barclays, Halifax, Santander and TSB have all announced closures since 2022. Every telly in the country comes in through Felixstowe and it still can't keep a bank open. Otherwise, annoyingly, it's fine.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Felixstowe's 55 for air pollution means it's crapper than 55% of towns.
- Air pollution55/1008.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions50/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband38/1002.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the East Suffolk council area
- Food hygiene37/1001.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 208 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping30/1007.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Suffolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson27/1005.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour14/1006.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires7/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills7/1002.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain1/100106 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lowestoft | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Sudbury | 30 |
| 3 | Ipswich | 15 |
| 4 | Haverhill | 11 |
| 5 | Newmarket | 9 |
| 6 | Stowmarket | 7 |
| 7 | Felixstowe | 6 |
| 8 | Woodbridge | 4 |
| 9 | Bury St Edmunds | 3 |
| 10 | Kesgrave | 0 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Felixstowe by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 86 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 35.5 per 10,000 people, 10.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 12 pubs, 16 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 34) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 16.5 per 100,000 people, 4.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 13 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.4 per 10,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.05am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 12.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 21% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,792 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 17% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Suffolk council
- £2,335 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £57 less than the English average
- 22% of Suffolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Felixstowe 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.