Crap Towns / West Midlands / Knowle and Dorridge
Knowle and Dorridge
15/100Crap Score
840th crappest of 984 towns, and 29th in the West Midlands. 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 Knowle and Dorridge? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Lovely. Expensive. Smug.
Big houses, canal locks and objections to anyone building anything.
Knowle and Dorridge are about as posh as Solihull gets. Big houses, a flight of canal locks and no crime to speak of. Anti-social behaviour is 83% lower than the typical town's, and most of what's left is probably someone objecting to a planning application.
The big worries are a field getting built on and the two villages blending into one. For people so keen on green space they've not got much of it: 54.1% of them live more than 400 metres from a park or play space. Plenty of hairdressers, no swimming pool, and the last bus goes at 9.45pm. If that's your worst problem, you're doing alright.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Knowle and Dorridge's 76 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 76% of towns.
- Fly-tipping76/10017.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Solihull council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills76/100751 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution61/1009.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain57/100131 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene31/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 77 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband14/1002.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.6% across the Solihull council area
- Serious road collisions9/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson2/1002.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires2/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour0/1002.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Royal Sutton Coldfield | 36 |
| 23 | Aldridge | 36 |
| 24 | Coseley | 35 |
| 25 | Solihull | 30 |
| 26 | Sedgley | 24 |
| 27 | Kingswinford | 19 |
| 28 | Streetly | 16 |
| 29 | Knowle and Dorridge | 15 |
| 30 | Halesowen | 11 |
Knowle and Dorridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 36.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 52% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 36 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 18.6 per 10,000 people, 5.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 5.2 per 100,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 69% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.45pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 54.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,531 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Solihull council
Have a crap-off
Knowle and Dorridge 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.