Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Ilkley
Ilkley
48/100Crap Score
514th crappest of 984 towns, and 32nd in West Yorkshire. 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
Ilkley. Posh, but it still stinks.
The moor's lovely. The Wharfe gets sewage. Ilkley still looks down on Bradford.
Ilkley is the posh bit of Bradford council and won't let you forget it. There's the moor, the Cow and Calf rocks and the song about the hat. The council's taken away the free parking, and on a sunny day the riverside fills with litter.
The Wharfe at Ilkley is an official bathing water, and in 2025 it was rated Poor. Sewage goes in the water nearby for over eleven times the typical town's hours, so you can see why. Halifax, HSBC, NatWest and Santander have all shut a branch, nearly eight times the typical town's rate for a place this size. You get rain on 153 days a year. Still better than Bradford, they'll tell you.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ilkley's 98 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Sewage spills98/1003,131 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping93/10032.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bradford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain77/100153 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires60/1006.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband39/1007.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.5% across the Bradford council area
- Food hygiene28/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 136 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions28/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour23/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution22/1006.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson6/1003.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Ossett | 62 |
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
| 31 | Otley | 55 |
| 32 | Ilkley | 48 |
| 33 | Guiseley | 48 |
| 34 | Kippax | 44 |
| 35 | Yeadon | 43 |
| 36 | Garforth | 42 |
Ilkley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 49.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 35% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.0 per 10,000 people, 18% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
- Poor Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 21 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 1 vape shop, 8 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 14) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 26.9 per 100,000 people, 7.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.0 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.57pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 42.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,320 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 14% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bradford council
- £2,361 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £31 less than the English average
- 13% of Bradford council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 27 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Ilkley 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.