Crap Towns / Tyne and Wear / Longbenton
Longbenton
61/100Crap Score
383rd crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in Tyne and Wear. 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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Big government office, old pancake factory. Nothing to do in between.
Longbenton has the Ministry, a giant civil service office, and used to have the factory that made crispy pancakes. That's the highlights. There's not much to buy, nothing to do, litter about and shop windows that keep getting put in. The fly-tipping's worse than most. The Metro into Newcastle is the main attraction. It leaves.
Hardly a charity shop, but 18 hairdressers and 3 Greggs, which per head is nearly four times the typical town's. Things get set on fire at nearly three times the typical town's rate. They keep building, so it'll be Longer Benton soon.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Longbenton's 86 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Deliberate fires86/10016.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping81/10019.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Tyneside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour69/10018.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson63/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution59/10011.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene50/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 121 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills47/100244 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain37/100123 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband24/1004.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.9% across the North Tyneside council area
- Serious road collisions21/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Jarrow | 82 |
| 9 | Hebburn | 75 |
| 10 | Houghton-le-Spring | 73 |
| 11 | Birtley | 69 |
| 12 | Longbenton | 61 |
| 13 | Washington | 57 |
| 14 | Whickham | 53 |
| 15 | Killingworth | 50 |
| 16 | Shiney Row and Penshaw | 47 |
Longbenton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 67.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 38 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 14.1 per 10,000 people, 4.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 9 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 18 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 22) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 cash machine closure assessed by LINK
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.55pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,522 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Tyneside council
- £2,462 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £70 more than the English average
- 8% of North Tyneside council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 16 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Longbenton 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.