Crap Towns / Devon / Great Torrington
Great Torrington
24/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 24. 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
Torrington. They set fire to things.
Every few years they build a giant replica of something and burn it. The rest of the time it's quiet.
Great Torrington builds enormous replicas of famous buildings and then sets fire to them for charity, which is the most fun anyone in Devon is allowed to have. The rest of the time it's a quiet hilltop town with no Sunday buses to speak of, weedy pavements and old factory sites going to rot.
It chucks it down on 165 days a year, so getting the bonfire lit is an achievement in itself. Gigabit gets to 18.4% of premises. The sewers spill more than most.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Great Torrington's 100 for broadband means it's crapper than 100% of towns.
- Broadband100/10081.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 40.0% across the Torridge council area
- Sewage spills91/1001,598 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain88/100165 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene67/1004.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 42 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires59/1006.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson33/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour10/1008.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution4/1003.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping4/1003.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Torridge council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions2/1000.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Honiton | 37 |
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| – | Great Torrington | 24 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
| 14 | Brixham | 23 |
| 15 | Ivybridge | 18 |
| 16 | Exmouth | 12 |
Great Torrington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 43.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 43% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of graffiti and fly-posting on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 8.4 per 10,000 people, 5.3x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 83% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,568 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Torridge council
Have a crap-off
Great Torrington 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.