Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Flitwick
Flitwick
4/100Crap Score
Known as Flitty.
949th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Bedfordshire. 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
There's a Tesco. There's your town.
There's no town centre. There's a Tesco. That'll do, apparently.
Flitwick's got a moor, a station and a Tesco, and that's the town centre sorted. It used to bottle its own mineral water. Now it's houses round a supermarket. Ampthill calls it Shitwick. Bit harsh. It's not shit. There's just nothing there, and no way out of it either: not one bus leaves after 7pm on a Wednesday, and none at all on a Sunday.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Flitwick's 72 for broadband means it's crapper than 72% of towns.
- Broadband72/10011.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Central Bedfordshire council area
- Air pollution62/1008.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping40/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Central Bedfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene21/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 50 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires20/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain19/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills16/10028.2 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions14/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour12/1008.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luton | 66 |
| 2 | Bedford | 61 |
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
| 10 | Biggleswade | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Flitwick by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 40.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 47% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 151 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 111 per 10,000 people, 32.6x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 10) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 7.3 per 100,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- None buses after 7pm on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,573 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Central Bedfordshire council
- £2,516 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £124 more than the English average
- 13% of Central Bedfordshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 17 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Flitwick 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.