Crap Towns / Northumberland / Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
64/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 64. 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
Newbiggin. Mind the dog shit.
They shipped in new sand for the beach. The dog owners treat it like a toilet.
Newbiggin has a sculpture standing out in the sea, dolphins off Church Point and a beach they had to fill up with new sand. The dog owners treat the prom as a toilet and the lads in town keep smashing things up. It's bookies and pubs in the middle. Nice sea, though.
Some bright spark's setting fire to the grass at about twenty times the typical town's rate, and deliberate fires overall run at nearly twelve times. The vandalism's well over twice the typical town's. The sea's rated Excellent and the air's clean, so it's only the town that's mucky.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea's 99 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Deliberate fires99/10067.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson98/10016.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour90/10027.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping63/10012.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Northumberland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills58/100381 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband51/1003.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.9% across the Northumberland council area
- Food hygiene49/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 42 food businesses with a rating
- Rain24/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions11/1001.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution5/1003.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blyth | 83 |
| – | Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | 64 |
| 2 | Ashington | 61 |
| 3 | Prudhoe | 58 |
| 4 | Berwick-upon-Tweed | 58 |
| 5 | Morpeth | 57 |
| 6 | Bedlington | 56 |
| 7 | Hexham | 49 |
| 8 | Cramlington | 47 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Ponteland | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 91.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 146 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 245 per 10,000 people, 350x the typical town's 0.7
- 2 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% 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
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.09am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 12.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 21% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,651 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Northumberland council
Have a crap-off
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea 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.