Crap Towns / Fife / Methil
Methil
53/100Crap Score
463rd crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Fife. 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
Methil. Something's always on fire.
The coal docks shut, the rigs stopped coming and somebody's been setting the place alight ever since.
Methil shipped Fife's coal out of its docks, then built oil rigs, then ran out of both. What's left is a quiet High Street, derelict plots, a few pubs and a couple of hairdressers. No Greggs. Not one.
Deliberate fires come in at three times the typical Scottish town's rate, and the grass goes up at more than four times. Vandalism is getting on for twice the typical Scottish town's. The last bus leaves at 1.44am, which gives everyone plenty of time to get home from lighting things.
East Fife play at Bayview by the old docks, and they'll tell you they won the Scottish Cup. That was 1938. Leven's joined on and wants nothing to do with any of it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Methil's 97 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Deliberate fires97/10066.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson94/10012.7 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Anti-social behaviour80/10012.4 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Rain53/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Serious road collisions46/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband36/1001.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.9% across the Fife council area
- Sewage spills33/100113 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Food hygiene22/1002.6% told to improve, of the 76 food businesses inspected
- Air pollution3/1004.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirkcaldy | 76 |
| 2 | Cowdenbeath | 62 |
| 3 | Methil | 53 |
| 4 | Glenrothes | 52 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Rosyth | 30 |
| 6 | Leven | 28 |
| 7 | Dunfermline | 18 |
| 8 | St Andrews | 5 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Methil by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 79.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 45% higher than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- Good Leven's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.6% of takeaways inspected told to improve (1 of 22) Better: 49% lower than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.44am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 1.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 92% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,448 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Fife council
- £1,574 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £79 less than the Scottish average
- 32% of Fife council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 11% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 127 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, 2 upheld About the same: 34.1 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 96.1% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Methil 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.