Crap Towns / Greater London / Havering
Havering
72/100Crap Score
276th crappest of 984 towns, and 27th 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
Romford. Essex with an Oyster card.
Nobody in London could point to it on a map, and most of Romford would rather they didn't try.
Havering's the bit of London that's Essex in everything but the postcode, and Romford will tell you so. Rom's had a market since medieval times and a ring road you can't walk across. South Street on a Saturday night is best seen from the back of a cab. Upminster's got a windmill and the end of the District line, and that's as far east as London goes.
There's 24.4 square metres of park per person, against 4.5 in the typical town, and about 35% of people still live a fair walk from any of it, because a lot of it is Rainham Marshes. The air's filthy too. The Environment Agency has logged 32 serious pollution incidents round here since 2016, and the latest put dust in the air in August 2026, in case it wasn't thick enough already.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Havering's 94 for air pollution means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Air pollution94/10013.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene87/1004.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 1,344 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour75/10019.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions68/1002.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping67/10014.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Havering council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires66/100
- Broadband54/1008.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 8.8% across the Havering council area
- Criminal damage and arson33/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills16/10026.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain5/100110 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Kensington and Chelsea | 79 |
| 24 | Redbridge | 77 |
| 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 |
Havering by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 75.9 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
- 40 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 32 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 54 pubs, 79 hairdressers, 18 charity shops, 19 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 13 banks, 6 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (9 of 159) Worse: 43% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.9 per 100,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 34 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 14 public swimming pools open; 4 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 9 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.08am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 34.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,633 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Havering council
- £2,425 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £33 more than the English average
- 15% of Havering council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- 22 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Havering 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.