Crap Towns / Scottish Borders / Galashiels
Galashiels
73/100Crap Score
Known as Gala.
265th crappest of 984 towns. It's the crappest of the two ranked towns in the Scottish Borders, which isn't hard. 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 Galashiels? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Galashiels. Last stop but one.
The mills shut, the railway came back from Edinburgh, and the shopping precinct's still half empty.
Galashiels spun the wool for half the tweed in Scotland, and when the mills shut the town got a shopping precinct with nobody in it. Then they brought the railway back from Edinburgh, which was meant to bring people in. It mostly takes them out. The town centre has 18 hairdressers and 6 charity shops, and the To Let signs are holding their own.
The precinct isn't empty after dark, mind: anti-social behaviour and violence both come in at 1.8 times the typical Scottish town's. It's the crappest town in the Borders, which isn't saying much.
Hawick call the locals Pailmerks, after the mark a bucket leaves on your backside. Gala has 8 public toilets now, nearly five times the typical town's per head, so the joke's getting a bit fucking stale.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Galashiels's 92 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour92/10014.2 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Broadband77/1007.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.3% across the Scottish Borders council area
- Criminal damage and arson73/1008.9 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Rain69/100143 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions67/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills56/100354 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Food hygiene50/1005.3% told to improve, of the 114 food businesses inspected
- Deliberate fires28/10011.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution1/1003.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galashiels | 73 |
| 2 | Hawick | 57 |
Galashiels by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 70.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 30% higher than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 1 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 11% higher than the typical Scottish town's 0.9
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 12.5% of takeaways inspected told to improve (2 of 16) Worse: 37% higher than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 7.9 per 10,000 people, 4.9x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.14am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 6.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 57% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,348 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 12% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Scottish Borders council
- £1,619 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £34 less than the Scottish average
- 48% of Scottish Borders council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 33% higher than Scotland's 36%
- 37 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Better: 31.7 per 100,000 residents, 9% lower than Scotland's 34.7
- 97.2% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) Better: 5% higher than Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Galashiels 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.