Crap Towns / Tyne and Wear / Jarrow
Jarrow
82/100Crap Score
Jarrovians call it Jarra.
174th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Tyne and Wear. 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
Jarrow. Take the stairs.
A shipbuilding town with a tunnel under the Tyne and lifts that never work.
Jarrow built ships, marched to London and has a foot tunnel under the Tyne. The lifts down to it have been knackered or being fixed for about as long as anyone can remember. Jarra folk are tough, mind. Have to be, with them stairs.
Up top, the overflows nearby dump sewage for over fifteen times the typical town's hours, the bins go up in flames at about nineteen times the typical rate, and shoplifting's nearly three times the typical town's. There's 1 bank left. The takeaways are clean, to be fair. Something in Jarra had to be.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Jarrow's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1004,228 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires99/10059.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson95/10013.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping91/10027.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Tyneside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour78/10021.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution63/10011.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions41/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband26/1004.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.1% across the South Tyneside council area
- Rain24/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene9/1000.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 149 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Blaydon | 92 |
| 5 | Gateshead | 90 |
| 6 | Tynemouth | 89 |
| 7 | Sunderland | 87 |
| 8 | Jarrow | 82 |
| 9 | Hebburn | 75 |
| 10 | Houghton-le-Spring | 73 |
| 11 | Birtley | 69 |
| 12 | Longbenton | 61 |
Jarrow by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 112 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 47% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 3.1 per 10,000 people, 9% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 15 pubs, 20 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 21) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.23am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 9.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 36% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,540 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
South Tyneside council
- £2,434 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £42 more than the English average
- 15% of South Tyneside council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- 7 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Jarrow 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.