Crap Towns / Staffordshire / Leek
Leek
30/100Crap Score
People from here are Leekensians.
689th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in Staffordshire. 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 Leek? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Silk town. Stuck town.
Old silk town on the moors with no railway station and evening buses that don't bother.
Leek is an old silk town that calls itself the Queen of the Moorlands. It has no railway station, and some of the old buildings in the centre are falling apart while somebody draws up plans for drive-throughs. At midsummer the sun sets twice. The rest of the year it barely bothers once.
There's rain on 155 days a year. The banks are off: Barclays, Halifax and NatWest have each announced a closure. On a Sunday 4 buses leave the whole town all day, and on a Wednesday the last one goes at 8.17pm. Plenty of pubs, mind, which is handy when you can't get home.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Leek's 79 for rain means it's crapper than 79% of towns.
- Rain79/100155 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires70/1009.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband68/1004.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.4% across the Staffordshire Moorlands council area
- Serious road collisions56/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills54/100328 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson48/1006.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour37/10013.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution35/1007.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene6/1000.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 170 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping5/1003.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Staffordshire Moorlands council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoke-on-Trent | 85 |
| 2 | Burton upon Trent | 60 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.3 | Kidsgrove | 39 |
| 4 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 38 |
| 5 | Leek | 30 |
| 6 | Codsall | 26 |
| 7 | Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay | 25 |
| 8 | Biddulph | 24 |
| 9 | Stafford | 22 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Leek by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 78.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 1 problem reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 98% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 20 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops, 3 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 25) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 15.5 per 100,000 people, 4.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.1 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.17pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 14% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,382 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Staffordshire Moorlands council
- £2,338 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £54 less than the English average
- 10% of Staffordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Leek 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.