Crap Towns / Greater London / Harrow
Harrow
67/100Crap Score
326th crappest of 984 towns, and 29th in Greater London. 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
The posh bit's on the hill.
The famous school gets the hill. Wealdstone gets the old Kodak site and a lot of new flats.
Harrow's got a famous school on a hill with a church and a view, and that's the photo. Down the bottom it's Wealdstone, where they made camera film until nobody wanted film, and the old works is flats as far as you can see. Pinner fancies itself a village.
For a borough with a hill covered in playing fields, there's not much for anyone else to play on. About 35% of people live a fair walk from a park or play space, twice the typical town. There aren't many pubs, and Harrow's lost 4 libraries since 2010, so there's nowhere to drink and nowhere to read either.
The fly-tippers make up for it, at more than four times the typical council's rate. Low hygiene ratings run at more than twice the typical town. The vandals behave themselves. Everyone else is dumping a fridge.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Harrow's 96 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Fly-tipping96/10045.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Harrow council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution95/10014.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene95/1006.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 1,277 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour76/10020.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband63/10010.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.1% across the Harrow council area
- Serious road collisions39/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires22/100
- Rain21/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills11/1009.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Barking and Dagenham | 77 |
| 26 | Kingston upon Thames | 73 |
| 27 | Havering | 72 |
| 28 | Richmond upon Thames | 68 |
| 29 | Harrow | 67 |
| 30 | Bexley | 66 |
| 31 | Merton | 60 |
| 32 | Sutton | 58 |
| 33 | Bromley | 55 |
Harrow by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 62.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 39 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 0.7
- 22 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 32 pubs, 106 hairdressers, 19 charity shops, 31 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 27 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (16 of 174) Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 8 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 3.1 per 100,000 people, 9% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 libraries shut for good since 2010: Civic Centre (2013), Bob Lawrence (2015), Hatch End (2015) and Rayners Lane (2015)
- 19 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 7 public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 16 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.41am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 34.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,618 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Harrow council
Have a crap-off
Harrow 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.