Crap Towns / Shropshire / Market Drayton
Market Drayton
8/100Crap Score
908th crappest of 984 towns, and 7th in Shropshire. 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
Yes, yes. Gingerbread.
Home of gingerbread, and really quite nice, apart from the empty shops.
Market Drayton calls itself the Home of Gingerbread and goes on about it. It's quiet, clean and decent, with a canal, a Wednesday market and hardly any trouble. Draytonians even get called Gingerbread Men, and seem fine with it.
The banks didn't fancy it. Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest have each announced a closure, which per head is 7.3 times the typical town's rate, and it's a banking hub now. The last bus on a Wednesday goes at 7.22pm and none runs on a Sunday. The high street does hairdressers, bookies, pubs and empty shops. Did they mention the gingerbread?
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Market Drayton's 76 for broadband means it's crapper than 76% of towns.
- Broadband76/1006.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 25.4% across the Shropshire council area
- Rain62/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson47/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene36/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 66 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour31/10012.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires24/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution21/1005.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions18/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills13/10015.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping9/1004.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Shropshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Telford | 59 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Shrewsbury | 39 |
| 3 | Newport | 29 |
| 4 | Oswestry | 28 |
| 5 | Bridgnorth | 23 |
| 6 | Ludlow | 19 |
| 7 | Market Drayton | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Market Drayton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 64.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 15% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 284 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 235 per 10,000 people, 69.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 15 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 24.9 per 100,000 people, 7.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 7.22pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,466 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Shropshire council
Have a crap-off
Market Drayton 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.