Crap Towns / Greater London / Islington
Islington
84/100Crap Score
156th crappest of 984 towns, and 19th in Greater London. 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
Everybody in Islington has an opinion.
Upper Street for a dinner you can't afford, then the Cally for the bookies and a dodgy kebab.
Islington's famous for dinner parties where someone explains how the country should be run over the cheese course. Then there's Archway, the Holloway Road and the Cally, which nobody invites to dinner. On match day the Arsenal lot fill every street round Highbury, and the traffic wardens have the time of their lives.
Step out of the dinner party and someone's had your phone. Theft from the person runs at 17.6 per 1,000 people a year, against 0.4 in the typical town, and the anti-social behaviour's three times the typical town. The air's got nearly three times the typical town's nitrogen dioxide in it, so you're choking while you report it.
Upper Street will charge you a fortune for dinner, and low hygiene ratings across the borough run at two and a half times the typical town. Someone at the cheese course is in for a long night.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Islington's 99 for air pollution means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Air pollution99/10023.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 9.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour99/10042.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions95/1004.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene94/1006.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 2,005 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping59/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Islington council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson57/1007.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires42/100
- Broadband23/1004.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Islington council area
- Rain15/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills10/1007.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Hounslow | 89 |
| 16 | Enfield | 88 |
| 17 | Lewisham | 87 |
| 18 | Greenwich | 85 |
| 19 | Islington | 84 |
| 20 | Wandsworth | 84 |
| 21 | Barnet | 83 |
| 22 | Waltham Forest | 82 |
| 23 | Kensington and Chelsea | 79 |
Islington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 144 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 76.2
- 230 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 10.6 per 10,000 people, 3.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 of 3 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 184 pubs, 201 hairdressers, 27 charity shops, 36 bookmakers, 8 vape shops, 13 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (13 of 208) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 8 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 3.7 per 100,000 people, 9% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 26 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 14 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 26 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 1.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,571 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Islington council
Have a crap-off
Islington 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.