Crap Towns / Mid Glamorgan / Maesteg
Maesteg
53/100Crap Score
462nd crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in Mid Glamorgan. 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
Maesteg. Get a lift home.
The miners paid for the Town Hall. Nobody's paid for a train that gets here.
The miners chipped in their wages to build Maesteg's Town Hall, and it's a cracker. Getting there's the problem. The trains get cancelled or give up at Tondu, and the last bus pulls out at 9.30pm.
It's wet on 184 days a year. Fair play to anyone who's ever had a dry day in Maesteg. Sewage goes in the water for 19 times the typical town's hours, so the river's getting it too. The pubs are doing all the work, at twice the typical town's per head. Lovely valley, though.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Maesteg's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1005,246 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain99/100184 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson75/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene72/1004.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 122 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping55/10010.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bridgend council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Anti-social behaviour48/10015.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband14/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.9% across the Bridgend council area
- Air pollution9/1005.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions1/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhondda | 71 |
| 3 | Merthyr Tydfil | 69 |
| 4 | Aberdare | 68 |
| 5 | Pontypridd | 57 |
| 6 | Maesteg | 53 |
| 7 | Tonypandy | 52 |
| 8 | Mountain Ash | 49 |
| 9 | Tonyrefail | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Church Village | 35 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Maesteg by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 83.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 10% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 27 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 14.7 per 10,000 people, 13.4x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 19 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 11.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 26) Worse: 2.9x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 69% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.30pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,450 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bridgend council
Have a crap-off
Maesteg 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.