Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Hatfield
Hatfield
67/100Crap Score
Known as Shatfield.
324th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Hertfordshire. 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 Hatfield? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Planes once. Student lets now.
They built jet airliners here once. Now the big thing is a shopping outlet on top of a tunnel.
Hatfield used to build jet airliners. Now it builds student lets nobody looks after. They regenerated the town centre and it still looks grim as hell, and there's no nightlife to speak of. Old Hatfield is pretty. Welwyn Garden City gets the money. Locals call the rest Shatfield.
Leave a bike anywhere and it's gone: bike theft runs at 2.8 per 1,000 people a year, against 0.5 in the typical town. The yobs come in at nearly twice the typical town's rate and the fly-tipping at more than twice the typical council's.
Not one storm overflow near Hatfield spilled from 2023 to 2025. So it's not full of shit. Just everything else.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Hatfield's 89 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Fly-tipping89/10026.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Welwyn Hatfield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour88/10025.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution88/10011.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband80/10015.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.0% across the Welwyn Hatfield council area
- Criminal damage and arson62/1008.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene55/1002.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 179 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions44/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires21/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain12/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waltham Cross | 78 |
| 2 | Hatfield | 67 |
| 3 | Borehamwood | 50 |
| 4 | Hemel Hempstead | 50 |
| 5 | Stevenage | 50 |
| 6 | Baldock | 45 |
| 7 | Potters Bar | 43 |
| 8 | Bushey | 42 |
| 9 | Welwyn Garden City | 42 |
Hatfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 100 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 31% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 100 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 24.1 per 10,000 people, 21.9x the typical town's 1.1
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 12 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 26) Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.4 per 100,000 people, 29% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 11 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 6 public swimming pools open Better: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.13am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 5% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,623 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Welwyn Hatfield council
- £2,452 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £60 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Hatfield 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.