Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Little Lever
Little Lever
80/100Crap Score
196th crappest of 984 towns, and 37th in Greater Manchester. 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
There's a bit called Nob End
A footbridge made of giant Meccano, plenty of bookies and a nature reserve called Nob End. Honestly.
Little Lever's got a footbridge over the canal built out of giant Meccano, which is about the best thing in it. It takes you to a bit called Nob End, and grown adults in Bolton have to say that out loud. You get rain on 167 days a year, so Nob End's usually a soggy one.
Back in the village it's bookies, more per head than most towns, and somebody torching a bin eight times as often as in the typical town. The sewers overflow for more than three times as long as the typical town's, and food businesses are nearly three times as likely to be rated 0 to 2 on hygiene. Some of those kitchens want shutting down.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Little Lever's 90 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Fly-tipping90/10023.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bolton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain90/100167 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires89/10021.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene81/1006.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 58 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills81/100911 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution74/10011.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson65/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Anti-social behaviour52/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions17/1001.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband3/1000.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.0% across the Bolton council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Platt Bridge and Abram | 81 |
| 34 | Hindley | 81 |
| 35 | Radcliffe | 81 |
| 36 | Whitefield | 81 |
| 37 | Little Lever | 80 |
| 38 | Dukinfield | 79 |
| 39 | Prestwich | 79 |
| 40 | Wigan | 77 |
| 41 | Hyde | 75 |
Little Lever by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 96.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 76% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.27am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 34% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,372 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bolton council
Have a crap-off
Little Lever 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.