Crap Towns / East Lothian / Haddington
Haddington
27/100Crap Score
Known as Haddy.
715th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in East Lothian. 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 Haddington? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Haddington. Shut by teatime.
Old grain-market town with a medieval bridge, fewer banks than it had, and a river with problems.
Haddington is a proper old market town on the Tyne, not that Tyne, with a medieval bridge and a lot of nice stone. Once the shops shut it's dead, and the shops are going: Bank of Scotland and TSB have both said they're off. What's opening instead is Greggs and vape shops, two of each, which is about what a high street is now.
The storm overflows on the Tyne spill for seven times the typical town's hours, so Haddington has a lot of shite going on for a place where nothing happens after five. It's lovely from the Nungate Bridge, as long as you're looking at the bridge.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Haddington's 93 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Sewage spills93/1001,961 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Broadband57/1007.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.2% across the East Lothian council area
- Food hygiene53/1005.6% told to improve, of the 71 food businesses inspected
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Rain42/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson31/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Anti-social behaviour25/1006.1 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Serious road collisions15/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires12/1007.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution2/1003.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Musselburgh | 74 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Haddington | 27 |
| 3 | Tranent | 20 |
| 4 | Prestonpans | 18 |
| 5 | Dunbar | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Haddington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 35.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 34% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.2 per 10,000 people, 11% higher than the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 2 charity shops, 2 vape shops, 2 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 17.6 per 100,000 people, 5.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.5 per 10,000 people, 2.2x 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
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 66% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,375 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
East Lothian council
- £1,698 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £45 more than the Scottish average
- 34% of East Lothian council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 38 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, 1 upheld About the same: 33.8 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 91.0% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Haddington 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.