Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard
13/100Crap Score
852nd crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Bedfordshire. 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
The station's in another town
Famous for sand. Has a railway just for sand. The real station's in the next town.
Leighton Buzzard dug sand for a living and built a little railway to carry it. The proper station is in Linslade, over the river, and the new estates have been built as far from it as possible. The trains are dear and the high street is the same shops over and over.
The banks have shut 6 branches since 2022, 4.1 times the typical town's rate, and the last public pool closed in 2026, with the new ones going somewhere else. Some bright spark's setting fire to the bins a lot more than they used to. Otherwise, clean and safe. Boring as hell.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Leighton Buzzard's 79 for broadband means it's crapper than 79% of towns.
- Broadband79/10014.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Central Bedfordshire council area
- Deliberate fires74/10010.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution59/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping40/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Central Bedfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour38/10013.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills34/100120 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain27/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson18/1004.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions5/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene5/1000.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 176 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luton | 66 |
| 2 | Bedford | 61 |
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
| 10 | Biggleswade | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Leighton Buzzard by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 55.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 28% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 758 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 177 per 10,000 people, 52.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 17 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 4 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 28) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 6 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 14.0 per 100,000 people, 4.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.44am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 23% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,548 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Central Bedfordshire council
- £2,516 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £124 more than the English average
- 13% of Central Bedfordshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 17 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Leighton Buzzard 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.