Crap Towns / Cornwall / Looe
Looe
59/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 59. 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 sea comes up the drains
A lovely harbour, a lot of gulls, and the sea coming up through the drains.
Looe's a pretty little fishing harbour split into East and West, and they've argued about which is better for centuries. The tide comes up the drains and floods the car parks, the gulls nick your pasty and the council's plans to stop them caused another row.
The last bus home is at 6.58pm, so it's a good job there are over four times the typical town's pubs per head. The rain turns up on 165 days a year, gigabit's on offer to 23.2% of premises, and the storm overflows go off for over five times the typical town's hours. It's called Looe. It's got sewage.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Looe's 100 for broadband means it's crapper than 100% of towns.
- Broadband100/10076.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Sewage spills90/1001,489 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain89/100165 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson85/10010.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene65/1003.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 79 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions45/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour45/10014.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires27/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping16/1005.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cornwall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution3/1002.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Truro | 76 |
| 2 | Penzance | 71 |
| 3 | Bodmin | 60 |
| – | Looe | 59 |
| 4 | Liskeard | 58 |
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
Looe by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower 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: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 4 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 18.8 per 100,000 people, 5.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 7.5 per 10,000 people, 4.7x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 6.58pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 5.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 36.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,730 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 13% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Looe 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.