Crap Towns / Somerset / Midsomer Norton
Midsomer Norton
41/100Crap Score
Known as MSN.
580th crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in Somerset. 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
Midsomer Norton. No murders, no cinema.
The telly show borrowed the name. The town kept the parking charges and the empty shops.
Midsomer Norton is an old coal town that gave Midsomer Murders its name and got nothing for it. There's a river running down the High Street, a slag heap locals call the volcano and a town hall that's been in bits for ages. Still no cinema.
The shops keep closing, and Halifax and NatWest have gone. 23.1% of the takeaways come in at 0 to 2 for hygiene, nearly six times the typical town's share, so if there's ever a murder, check the kebab. The sewage goes in the Somer.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Midsomer Norton's 84 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Food hygiene84/1006.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 72 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills80/100876 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband70/1006.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 20.7% across the Bath and North East Somerset council area
- Rain68/100142 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping60/10011.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bath and North East Somerset council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires31/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour28/10011.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution21/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson19/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions5/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Bridgwater | 57 |
| 3 | Taunton | 52 |
| 4 | Keynsham | 51 |
| 5 | Weston-super-Mare | 51 |
| 6 | Midsomer Norton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.7 | Chard | 38 |
| 8 | Yeovil | 34 |
| 9 | Minehead | 33 |
| 10 | Frome | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Midsomer Norton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 145 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 105 per 10,000 people, 116.7x the typical town's 0.9
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 2 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 23.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 13) Worse: 5.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 14.6 per 100,000 people, 4.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.9 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.14am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,580 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Bath and North East Somerset council
- £2,383 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £9 less than the English average
- 24% of Bath and North East Somerset council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.5x England's 16%
- 9 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Midsomer Norton 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.