Crap Towns / Leicestershire / Leicester
Leicester
79/100Crap Score
People from here are Chisits.
212th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Leicestershire. 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
Red. Red. Red. Amber. Red.
They dug a king up from under a car park. It's the most anyone's got out of a Leicester car park.
Leicester dug a king up from under a car park, won the league when nobody expected it, and has been coasting on both ever since. Forest fans pretend there's no rivalry at all, which winds the Chisits up more than any chant could. The city centre shops are emptying while everyone heads for the retail parks, and there's a traffic light every few yards to make sure nobody gets there quickly.
All that sitting at the lights costs you. Leicester breathes 1.7 times the typical town's nitrogen dioxide. There are 15 places on the Heritage at Risk register, so the king isn't the only old thing that got left to rot. Bikes get nicked, pockets get picked, and the fly-tippers run at 1.8 times the typical English council's rate. It's the crappest place in Leicestershire, and not by a little.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Leicester's 93 for air pollution means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Air pollution93/10013.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene82/1004.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 3,000 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping81/10019.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Leicester council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions68/1002.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires67/1008.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain33/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills29/10089.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband5/1002.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 2.4% across the Leicester council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester | 79 |
| 2 | Coalville | 58 |
| 3 | Loughborough | 46 |
| 4 | Blaby and Whetstone | 45 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Melton Mowbray | 33 |
| 6 | Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe | 32 |
| 7 | Enderby and Narborough | 29 |
| 8 | Whitwick | 27 |
| 9 | Shepshed | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Leicester by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 114 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 50% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 262 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.4 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 10 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 134 pubs, 110 hairdressers, 23 charity shops, 20 bookmakers, 10 vape shops, 33 banks, 9 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (25 of 549) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 8 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 2.0 per 100,000 people, 41% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 49 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 24 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 15 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 9% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,465 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Leicester council
Have a crap-off
Leicester 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.