Crap Towns / Moray / Forres
Forres
6/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 6. 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
Forres. Nothing to see. Lovely.
Flower beds, a hill with a tower on it and a stone over a thousand years old kept in a giant glass box.
Forres is the sort of town that keeps its oldest bit of history in a big glass box so nobody can spoil it. That's Sueno's Stone, stood there for over a thousand years and now behind glass. The flower beds win prizes, and the town has 38.3 square metres of park per person, so there's room for everyone to be smug at a distance.
Nothing gets set on fire. The big row is about the Academy getting rebuilt on the playing fields. Nairn's down the road and comes out crapper, and Forres would never say so out loud.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Forres's 98 for broadband means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Broadband98/10028.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 35.9% across the Moray council area
- Rain64/100137 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Food hygiene30/1003.2% told to improve, of the 62 food businesses inspected
- Sewage spills25/10062.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour15/1004.2 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Criminal damage and arson12/1004.3 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Serious road collisions3/1000.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires2/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution0/1001.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elgin | 36 |
| – | Forres | 6 |
Forres by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 31.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 41% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 3 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.2 per 10,000 people, 8x the typical Scottish town's 0.4
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 10.8 per 100,000 people, 3.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.4 per 10,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.01am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 79% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,329 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 13% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Moray council
- £1,731 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £78 more than the Scottish average
- 35% of Moray council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 36%
- 37 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Worse: 39.7 per 100,000 residents, 14% higher than Scotland's 34.7
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Forres 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.