Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Guisborough
Guisborough
78/100Crap Score
215th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in North Yorkshire. 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
Guisborough. Good luck getting home.
Forest walks and a street market. Getting home on a Sunday is the less attractive bit.
Guisborough sits on the edge of the North York Moors and it's lovely up there. Down in town the parking charges scare off the shoppers, there's barely a bus on a Sunday and you won't get a taxi late.
And some tosser keeps dumping rubbish in the lanes. The council's fly-tipping runs at over four times the typical council's, and some bright spark's setting fire to the forest at over nine times the typical town's rate. Barclays and Lloyds have both gone, and shoplifting's over twice the typical town's. Lovely up on the moors, mind.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Guisborough's 97 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Fly-tipping97/10047.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Redcar and Cleveland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires96/10035.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour78/10020.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband68/10011.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.8% across the Redcar and Cleveland council area
- Rain64/100136 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills55/100340 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene50/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 121 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions18/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution14/1005.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middlesbrough | 96 |
| 2 | Eston | 86 |
| 3 | York | 85 |
| 4 | Scarborough | 78 |
| 5 | Guisborough | 78 |
| 6 | Skipton | 74 |
| 7 | Redcar | 71 |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
| 9 | Whitby | 64 |
Guisborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 79.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 1 bookmaker, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 11.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 18) Worse: 2.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 11.1 per 100,000 people, 3.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.8 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.51pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 25.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,421 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 7% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Redcar and Cleveland council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 7% of Redcar and Cleveland council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 56% lower than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Guisborough 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.