Crap Towns / West Glamorgan / Gowerton
Gowerton
20/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 20. 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
Less crap than Gorseinon. Just.
Locals are called the Starch, after the bosses' stiff shirts. Now it's a sinkhole and temporary lights.
People from Gowerton are called the Starch, after the old steel bosses' stiff collars. It calls itself the Gateway to Gower. Some gateway. A hole opened up in Cecil Road and the temporary lights moved in for good.
It's wet on 162 days a year and the river gets the sewage, with the storm overflows going off for over five times the typical town's hours. The buses keep up with the typical town's after dark, and there are over four times its Greggs per head. It comes out less crap than Gorseinon, and the Starch will be insufferable about it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Gowerton's 90 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Sewage spills90/1001,535 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain86/100162 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson51/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Fly-tipping44/10010.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Swansea council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene25/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 39 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband18/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 8.4% across the Swansea council area
- Anti-social behaviour17/1009.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution11/1005.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions0/1000.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Talbot | 53 |
| 2 | Swansea | 46 |
| 3 | Neath | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Baglan | 32 |
| 5 | Gorseinon | 25 |
| – | Gowerton | 20 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Gowerton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.46pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 34.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,541 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Swansea council
Have a crap-off
Gowerton 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.