Crap Towns / Surrey / Leatherhead
Leatherhead
79/100Crap Score
211th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Surrey. 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
Leatherhead is dead.
Voted the worst high street going. The ducks on the Mole have more going on than the locals.
Leatherhead has been called the worst high street in the country, and locals call it Leatherdead. The shopping centre's knackered, the high street's dull and there's nothing to do but commute. The big event of the year is a duck race. A duck race.
It's got Greggs at nearly six times the typical town's rate per head and shoplifting at over twice the typical town's, so somebody's living on sausage rolls. HSBC and NatWest have both gone. Sewage came out of the overflows nearby for over three times as long as in the typical town, so even the ducks have it rough. The Greggs is trying.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Leatherhead's 95 for broadband means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Broadband95/10025.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.0% across the Mole Valley council area
- Serious road collisions86/1003.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution85/10011.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills80/100880 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson72/1008.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour65/10017.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene54/1002.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 71 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires44/100
- Fly-tipping24/1006.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Mole Valley council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain21/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staines-upon-Thames | 93 |
| 2 | Redhill | 84 |
| 3 | Horley | 80 |
| 4 | Leatherhead | 79 |
| 5 | Byfleet | 78 |
| 6 | Chertsey | 72 |
| 7 | Addlestone | 67 |
| 8 | Egham | 67 |
| 9 | Reigate | 67 |
Leatherhead by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 101 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 33% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 448 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 390 per 10,000 people, 114.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 11) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 17.4 per 100,000 people, 5.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.2 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 3.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.30am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,614 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Mole Valley council
Have a crap-off
Leatherhead 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.