Crap Towns / Cheshire / Macclesfield
Macclesfield
12/100Crap Score
868th crappest of 984 towns, and 19th in Cheshire. 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
Need a vape? Need your nails done?
An old silk town where the shops do vapes, nails and not much else.
Macclesfield made silk and now makes do with vape shops and nail bars. The town centre shops keep closing, the banks have announced five branch closures since 2022 and a library's gone. Treacle Town, they call it, after a cart that spilled its load on the cobbles and the locals scooped it up.
It comes out surprisingly well, mainly thanks to the Peak District next door. The trains to Manchester cost a fortune and the evening buses barely exist, about a tenth of the typical town's after seven, so a night out in Macc ends early or on foot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Macclesfield's 82 for rain means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Rain82/100159 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband63/1007.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.3% across the Cheshire East council area
- Fly-tipping43/10010.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cheshire East council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution40/1007.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills27/10077.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour26/1007.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson22/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions21/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene18/1001.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 295 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires6/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Nantwich | 28 |
| 13 | Neston | 28 |
| 14 | Alsager | 22 |
| 15 | Lymm | 21 |
| 16 | Wilmslow | 21 |
| 17 | Poynton | 15 |
| 18 | Knutsford | 14 |
| 19 | Macclesfield | 12 |
| 20 | Davenham | 12 |
Macclesfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 77.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 50 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 9.2 per 10,000 people, 55% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 40 pubs, 37 hairdressers, 13 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 7 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 35) Better: 28% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 9.2 per 100,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Hurdsfield
- 11 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 25% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.12am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,365 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Cheshire East council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 more than the English average
- 17% of Cheshire East council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 6% higher than England's 16%
- 33 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Macclesfield 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.