Crap Towns / Somerset / Minehead
Minehead
33/100Crap Score
656th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th 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
Butlin's and a Greggs.
Butlin's, a steam train and the start of a very long walk out of town.
Minehead's got Butlin's, a steam railway and the start of the South West Coast Path, which is a very long walk away from Minehead. Good idea. The town's vape shops, charity shops, Greggs and pubs. Motorhomes take over Blenheim Road all summer, Friday Street's noisy at night, and there's aggro in Wellington Square.
There are six times the typical town's charity shops per head, so the Butlin's crowd can kit themselves out for the week. Dunster Beach came out Poor for bathing water and the other one only scraped Sufficient. Beach is alright. Don't go in.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Minehead's 94 for broadband means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Broadband94/10021.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.3% across the Somerset council area
- Rain68/100142 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson59/1007.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills54/100331 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions40/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene34/1001.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 118 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires21/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping19/1006.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Somerset council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Air pollution3/1003.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 11 | Wellington | 27 |
| 12 | Street | 17 |
| 13 | Portishead | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Minehead by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 98.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 29% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 0 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025; 1 rated Poor
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 15 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 10) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 8.5 per 100,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.1 per 10,000 people, 3.2x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.19am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 9.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,697 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Somerset council
Have a crap-off
Minehead 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.