Crap Towns / Leicestershire / Loughborough
Loughborough
46/100Crap Score
532nd crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd 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
Loughborough. Go to Nottingham.
A famous sports university and a statue of a man pulling his sock up.
Loughborough has a world-famous sports university and a town round it that's struggling to keep up. The shops in the middle keep emptying, and if you're not a student the nightlife is a train to Nottingham or Leicester. The best-known meeting point is a statue of a man pulling his sock up. That's Loughborough.
For a town that trains Olympians, it's not great at hanging on to things. Bike theft and burglary both run well above the typical town's. Since 2010, 3 public swimming pools have shut for good. And the one-way system still makes no sense to anyone.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Loughborough's 75 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 75% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson75/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene73/1003.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 444 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution70/1009.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires70/1009.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain51/100128 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions50/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour48/10015.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills40/100178 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping14/1005.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Charnwood council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband12/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.3% across the Charnwood 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.
Loughborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 96.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 14 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 1.1
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 32 pubs, 45 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 9 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.4% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 56) Worse: 35% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 14 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 38% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 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
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 26.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,497 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Charnwood council
- £2,406 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £14 more than the English average
- 11% of Leicestershire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 31% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Loughborough 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.