Crap Towns / Nottinghamshire / Hucknall
Hucknall
64/100Crap Score
359th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in Nottinghamshire. 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
What's that bloody humming?
The barbers and vape shops moved in, the kitchens went grim and something keeps humming at night.
Hucknall tested a flying bedstead at the old airfield, and you can see why it wanted to get away. There's a mystery hum that keeps people up at night and nobody has ever owned up to it. The high street went barbers and vape shops, and stayed that way.
Eat with care. The takeaways scoring 0 to 2 on hygiene run at 3.7 times the typical town's share, and there are hardly any public loos to run to afterwards. Some knobhead keeps torching the bins too, at nearly twice the typical town's rate of deliberate fires. Locals call it Mucky Uckna. They'd know.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Hucknall's 91 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Food hygiene91/1007.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 169 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires77/10011.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour77/10020.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution76/1009.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson60/1007.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain50/100128 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills45/100229 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping37/1008.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Ashfield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions34/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband3/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.0% across the Ashfield council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Clifton | 75 |
| 7 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield | 74 |
| 8 | Stapleford | 71 |
| 9 | Eastwood | 67 |
| 10 | Hucknall | 64 |
| 11 | Retford | 60 |
| 12 | Forest Town | 55 |
| 13 | Mansfield Woodhouse | 55 |
| 14 | Balderton | 54 |
Hucknall by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 83.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 9% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 82% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 12 pubs, 26 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 14.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (5 of 34) Worse: 3.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.8 per 100,000 people, 18% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.24am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 27.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,496 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Ashfield council
- £2,609 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £217 more than the English average
- 19% of Nottinghamshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Hucknall 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.