Crap Towns / Angus / Montrose
Montrose
41/100Crap Score
Folk from here are Gable Endies.
582nd crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Angus. 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
Got something to say about Montrose? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Montrose. The beach is leaving.
Gable-ended houses, a dog statue on the harbour and a beach the North Sea is taking away a bit at a time.
Montrose has the widest High Street in Scotland and has been struggling to fill it ever since. Big shops sit empty, the floors above them look worse, and the beach is being washed into the North Sea while the council works out what to do about it. The houses stand gable end on to the street, hence the Gable Endies. The thing on the harbour everyone photographs is a statue of a dog.
There are 2 Greggs, which per head is six times the typical town's. The sewage spills come in at 1.7 times the typical town's. The deliberate fires went up more than threefold in two years. Still, it's not Arbroath, and in Montrose that counts for a lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Montrose's 92 for broadband means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Broadband92/10014.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 32.7% across the Angus council area
- Sewage spills63/100471 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Serious road collisions58/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain58/100132 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Criminal damage and arson42/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Anti-social behaviour33/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Deliberate fires33/10013.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene25/1003.3% told to improve, of the 120 food businesses inspected
- Air pollution1/1003.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 3.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arbroath | 60 |
| 2 | Montrose | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.3 | Forfar | 37 |
| 4 | Carnoustie | 19 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Montrose by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 49.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 8% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 11 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 9.8 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
- Excellent Montrose's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 11.8% of takeaways inspected told to improve (2 of 17) Worse: 30% higher than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 8.9 per 100,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.15am 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%
- 7.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 53% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,529 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Angus council
- £1,599 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £54 less than the Scottish average
- 33% of Angus council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 8% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 28 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Better: 24.5 per 100,000 residents, 29% lower than Scotland's 34.7
- 96.0% 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
Montrose 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.