Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Irthlingborough
Irthlingborough
55/100Crap Score
Locals call it Artlenock.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 55. 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
Got something to say about Irthlingborough? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Bus? You'll be lucky.
Used to have a league football club. Now it has empty shops, fewer buses and warehouse plans.
Irthlingborough had a league football club at Nene Park. It went bust. Now the shops are empty, the buses are being cut and somebody wants to put warehouses next to the new houses. Locals call it Artlenock, because nobody can be arsed saying it properly.
The lakes and meadows are lovely, when nobody's setting fire to them. Fires get started on purpose at 2.3 times the typical town's rate, mostly grass, woods and crops. The storm overflows spill for 3.6 times as long as the typical town's. No swimming pool either.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Irthlingborough's 83 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Sewage spills83/100985 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires79/10012.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour75/10019.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution53/1007.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene50/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 41 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson40/1006.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband20/1004.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
- Rain20/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions19/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northampton | 82 |
| 2 | Daventry | 75 |
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| – | Irthlingborough | 55 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Irthlingborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 164 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 176 per 10,000 people, 51.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 11.26pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 42% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,546 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Irthlingborough 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.