Crap Towns / East Riding of Yorkshire / Hornsea
Hornsea
1/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 1. 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
End of the line, minus the line
End of the Trans Pennine Trail. End of the old railway line. End of the road, really.
Hornsea is famous for its pottery, has a big mere and fills up with caravans every summer. The railway to Hull shut years ago and the cliffs are falling into the sea. Everyone walking the Trans Pennine Trail finishes here and wants to tell you about it. Otherwise it's well behaved and quite nice. Damn it.
It scores 0 on the Crap Score. The sea's rated Excellent, the air's clean, nobody fly-tips and there's 2 swimming pools for when the mere isn't enough. When a bank goes they open a banking hub. Insufferable.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Hornsea's 45 for rain means it's crapper than 45% of towns.
- Rain45/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson34/1005.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions31/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills26/10071.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires18/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution15/1004.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour10/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene9/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 82 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband4/1000.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.5% across the East Riding of Yorkshire council area
- Fly-tipping3/1003.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Riding of Yorkshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Bridlington | 20 |
| 4 | Cottingham | 12 |
| 5 | Hessle | 12 |
| 6 | Pocklington | 11 |
| 7 | Willerby and Anlaby | 9 |
| 8 | Driffield | 9 |
| 9 | Beverley | 7 |
| 10 | Brough | 3 |
| – | Hornsea | 1 |
Hornsea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 57.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 24% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 83% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- Excellent Hornsea's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 banking hub opened here
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.26am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 7% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,673 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Riding of Yorkshire council
- £2,466 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £74 more than the English average
- 15% of East Riding of Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- 12 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Hornsea 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.