Crap Towns / County Durham / Horden
Horden
62/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 62. 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
Horden. Still waiting.
Lovely coastline. Streets of boarded-up pit terraces the council keeps saying it'll sort.
Horden has a cracking bit of coast and rows of old pit terraces, the Numbered Streets, too many of them boarded up and rotting. Fly-tipping, rats, and more yobs and vandals than most places its size. The shops have gone. The council's been promising to sort it for years. The YouTubers turn up, film the worst bits and bugger off.
Crime is running at more than twice the typical town's rate. Burglary's well over three and a half times, the vandalism over three times, and fires get started on purpose at over twelve times. There's 1 pub and 1 hairdresser, and shoplifting's over four times the typical town's, so somebody's found something to nick. The coast's still cracking. The council's still promising.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Horden's 99 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson99/10022.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires99/10070.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour85/10023.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills52/100299 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband40/1002.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Serious road collisions39/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
- Rain23/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution16/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| – | Horden | 62 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
| 13 | Billingham | 52 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Egglescliffe | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Horden by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 164 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 76.2
- 1 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
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 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
- 11.31pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 4.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 69% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,584 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Horden 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.