Crap Towns / Norfolk / Harleston
Harleston
11/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 11. 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
Harleston. Very pleased with itself.
A tidy market town with a clock tower. The charity shops are doing very well.
Harleston is a pretty little market town with a clock tower, a Wednesday market and old timber buildings, and it knows it. It's got 7 hairdressers, 5 charity shops and 1 pub. So you can get your hair done and buy a dead man's jacket, but there's only the one place to drink about it.
Barclays packed up in 2023. On a Sunday not one bus comes in or goes out, and gigabit broadband reaches about two-thirds of the town, so you're not going anywhere, online or otherwise. Hardly any crime, mind. Nobody can get here on a Sunday to do any.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Harleston's 98 for broadband means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Broadband98/10034.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 28.3% across the South Norfolk council area
- Food hygiene70/1005.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 35 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills38/100159 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions37/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution33/1005.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain25/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires13/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping11/1004.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Norfolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour6/1007.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Dereham | 35 |
| 7 | Downham Market | 33 |
| 8 | Bradwell | 33 |
| 9 | Wymondham | 18 |
| 10 | North Walsham | 17 |
| – | Harleston | 11 |
| 11 | Watton | 10 |
| 12 | Attleborough | 4 |
| 13 | Taverham and Drayton | 1 |
Harleston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 38.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 49% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.9 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 7 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 1 vape shop, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 19.7 per 100,000 people, 5.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.10am last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 5.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 66% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,643 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
South Norfolk council
- £2,483 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £91 more than the English average
- 8% of Norfolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Harleston 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.