Crap Towns / Merseyside / Formby
Formby
27/100Crap Score
714th crappest of 984 towns, and 17th in Merseyside. 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 Formby? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
You came for a red squirrel. Tough.
Pinewoods, dunes and red squirrels. Mostly you'll see the back of a car.
Formby is posh and tidy with pinewoods, dunes and a beach that's lovely once you finally get to it. On a sunny day every car in Merseyside comes down the same road and parks across somebody's drive. People come for the red squirrels and go home having seen a grey one.
Not a lot else goes wrong. The food's clean, the air's clean and the sea's rated Excellent. There are twice as many deliberate fires as in the typical town, which in Formby counts as a crime wave. Posh lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Formby's 78 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 78% of towns.
- Deliberate fires78/10011.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain71/100146 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping66/10013.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Sefton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions50/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills50/100283 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband50/1006.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 11.7% across the Sefton council area
- Anti-social behaviour17/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution12/1004.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson5/1003.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene4/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 110 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Haydock | 63 |
| 11 | Litherland | 59 |
| 12 | Bebington | 50 |
| 13 | Crosby | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Maghull | 36 |
| 15 | Southport | 34 |
| 16 | West Kirby | 29 |
| 17 | Formby | 27 |
| 18 | Heswall | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Formby by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 40.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 48% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 8 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.5 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- Excellent Formby's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 13) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 8.7 per 100,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.59pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier 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%
- 55.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,561 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Sefton council
Have a crap-off
Formby 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.