Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Mossley
Mossley
89/100Crap Score
113th crappest of 984 towns, and 21st in Greater Manchester. 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
Mossley couldn't pick a county.
Split between Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire for centuries. Now it's Tameside's problem.
Mossley's been carved up between Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire for centuries and ended up in Tameside, which is nobody's idea of an upgrade. There's Top Mossley and Bottom Mossley with a bloody steep hill between, and when they shut Stamford Road you go round by Ashton.
The storm overflows round Mossley spilled for 5,041 hours per 10,000 people a year, more than eighteen times the typical town, and the rain turns up on 173 days a year to wash it all downhill. The sun gets 1,292 hours. Good pubs, mind, top and bottom.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Mossley's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1005,041 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain94/100173 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires81/10014.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene79/1006.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 63 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping70/10015.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tameside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution67/10010.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband65/10013.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.9% across the Tameside council area
- Criminal damage and arson64/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions39/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Middleton | 91 |
| 18 | Worsley | 90 |
| 19 | Denton | 89 |
| 20 | Stalybridge | 89 |
| 21 | Mossley | 89 |
| 22 | Leigh | 88 |
| 23 | Uppermill | 87 |
| 24 | Royton | 86 |
| 25 | Ince-in-Makerfield | 86 |
Mossley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 92.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 22% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 8 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.0 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 8.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 12) Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 13% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.59pm last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 42.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,292 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 16% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Tameside council
Have a crap-off
Mossley 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.