Crap Towns / Devon / Kingsbridge
Kingsbridge
36/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 36. 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
Up the hill, mind.
Steep Fore Street, cars on the pavement, and a town hall clock with a blank face.
Kingsbridge sits at the top of the estuary, where all the Salcombe holiday traffic squeezes through. Fore Street is steep and cars park on the pavement. The town hall clock has a blank face, so it can't tell you how long you've been stuck.
There's no bus after 8.40pm, so you'd better know what time it is. There are five times the typical town's swimming pools per head, which is handy, because you wouldn't swim in the estuary with what the overflows put in it. Salcombe gets the yachts. Kingsbridge gets the bill.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Kingsbridge's 97 for broadband means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Broadband97/10019.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 41.3% across the South Hams council area
- Sewage spills86/1001,215 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain74/100150 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson72/1008.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour44/10014.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene42/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 55 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping24/1007.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Hams council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires18/1002.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions7/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution4/1003.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Exeter | 45 |
| 7 | Bideford | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Newton Abbot | 39 |
| 9 | Honiton | 37 |
| – | Kingsbridge | 36 |
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Kingsbridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 62.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 3 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.6 per 100,000 people, 5.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.5 per 10,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 3.5 per 10,000 people, 5x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.40pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than 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%
- 1,618 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
South Hams council
Have a crap-off
Kingsbridge 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.