Crap Towns / South Yorkshire / Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe
94/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 94. 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
Grim. It says so.
They made Brassed Off about this place. The fly-tippers have been busy since.
Grimethorpe has a world famous brass band, and Brassed Off was based on it. Since the pit shut it's had fly-tipping on the High Street, litter round the bus interchange, vandals, aggro and sewage. Locals call it Crimethorpe. Then the council took away the pit wheel memorial, which went down as you'd expect. The band's still brilliant, mind.
The firebugs are busy, at nearly twelve times the typical town's rate, and burglary at nearly three times. The storm overflows nearby go off for five and a half times the typical town's hours. Even Grimethorpe Hall has ended up on the at-risk register. The name does most of the work. The figures do the rest.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Grimethorpe's 98 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Deliberate fires98/10066.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson98/10016.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills90/1001,515 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping83/10020.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Barnsley council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution81/1009.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour79/10021.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband77/10015.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 8.7% across the Barnsley council area
- Food hygiene55/1003.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 30 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions37/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain24/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnsley | 98 |
| 2 | Rotherham | 97 |
| 3 | Cudworth and Shafton | 95 |
| 4 | Sheffield | 94 |
| – | Grimethorpe | 94 |
| 5 | Rawmarsh | 93 |
| 6 | Mexborough | 92 |
| 7 | Dinnington | 92 |
| 8 | Bentley | 91 |
Grimethorpe by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 107 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 15% higher than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.38pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,492 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Barnsley council
Have a crap-off
Grimethorpe 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.