Crap Towns / North Lanarkshire / Kilsyth
Kilsyth
61/100Crap Score
381st crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in North Lanarkshire. 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
It's always raining in Kilsyth.
Rain on 189 days a year, a sewage problem and a grudge against Cumbernauld that goes back decades.
Kilsyth gets rain on 189 days a year, and 1,447 mm of it, nearly twice the typical town's. It comes off the Campsies and it doesn't stop. Locals reckon they have the oldest curling club in the world. It's the one thing anyone in Kilsyth has ever bragged about.
Storm overflows nearby spill for two and a half times the typical town's hours, and the inspectors told nearly one food business in ten to smarten up, 1.7 times the typical Scottish town's share. The main street's down to a couple of hairdressers, a bookies and a banking hub.
Kilsyth reckons Cumbernauld got all the money and Kilsyth got the rain. It's got a point.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Kilsyth's 99 for rain means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Rain99/100189 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene74/1009.2% told to improve, of the 65 food businesses inspected
- Sewage spills74/100692 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Broadband57/10010.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.6% across the North Lanarkshire council area
- Deliberate fires53/10022.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour50/1007.9 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Criminal damage and arson47/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Serious road collisions35/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution12/1006.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Motherwell | 90 |
| 2 | Coatbridge | 85 |
| 3 | Airdrie | 83 |
| 4 | Wishaw | 75 |
| 5 | Bellshill | 73 |
| 6 | Kilsyth | 61 |
| 7 | Viewpark | 53 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Cumbernauld | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Kilsyth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 39.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 27% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.4 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 2 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.1% of takeaways inspected told to improve (1 of 11) About the same: About the same as the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 1 banking hub opened here
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.50pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 15.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space About the same: About the same as the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,306 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 15% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Lanarkshire council
- £1,555 Band D council tax (2026-27) Better: £98 less than the Scottish average
- 33% of North Lanarkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 8% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 119 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld About the same: 34.9 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 87.9% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Kilsyth 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.