Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Knaresborough
Knaresborough
25/100Crap Score
People from here are Crag Rats.
743rd crappest of 984 towns, and 15th in North Yorkshire. 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 Knaresborough? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Lovely viaduct. Shame about the water.
The viaduct's gorgeous. The High Street has lorries going through it and empty shops.
Knaresborough's the postcard: castle on the cliff, viaduct over the Nidd, and the Crag Rats racing beds through town for a laugh. Off the postcard it's lorries squeezing down the High Street, cars all over the market place, empty shops and a cramped bus station.
They shut the paddling pool, 3 swimming pools have closed since 2010, and the Nidd at the Lido was rated Poor for bathing in 2025. So there's nowhere to swim, and you wouldn't want to. The sun manages 1,381 hours a year. Plenty of pubs, mind, 16 of them. You'll need them.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Knaresborough's 78 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 78% of towns.
- Sewage spills78/100825 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain65/100138 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour50/10015.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene42/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 96 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband42/1002.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson30/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions29/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution18/1005.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires15/1002.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
| 16 | Harrogate | 16 |
| 17 | Ripon | 15 |
| 18 | Ingleby Barwick | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Knaresborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 46.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 39% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 18 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 11.4 per 10,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 3.4
- Poor Nidd at the Lido, Knaresborough's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 16 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 banking hub opened here
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.1 per 10,000 people, 3.2x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.54am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 6.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 58% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,381 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Yorkshire council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 18% of North Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 41 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Knaresborough 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.