Crap Towns / Gwent / Newbridge
Newbridge
91/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 91. 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 Newbridge? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Newbridge. Hold it till Blackwood.
They saved the miners' hall and it's been on the telly. The rest of the town didn't get a look in.
Newbridge has an Art Deco miners' hall so grand they filmed Doctor Who in it, and locals fought to save it. Fair play. The rest of town is vape shops, bookies and Greggs, fewer shops every year, nowhere to park and no proper public toilet.
People get killed or badly hurt on the roads at well over twice the typical town's rate, so crossing the main road to Pantside is a gamble. It's wet on 162 days a year and there are nearly four times the typical town's bookies per head. The hall's lovely. The rest can go.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Newbridge's 95 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Serious road collisions95/1005.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain86/100162 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson78/1009.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour77/10020.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping67/10014.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Caerphilly council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene62/1004.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 50 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills59/100394 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband54/1008.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.3% across the Caerphilly council area
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Air pollution28/1007.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Risca | 96 |
| 4 | Ebbw Vale | 96 |
| 5 | Abertillery | 95 |
| 6 | Blackwood | 92 |
| – | Newbridge | 91 |
| 7 | Caerphilly | 88 |
| 8 | Pontypool | 86 |
| 9 | Ystrad Mynach | 85 |
| 10 | Cwmbrân | 75 |
Newbridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 72.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as 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: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 24% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.46pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,481 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Caerphilly council
Have a crap-off
Newbridge 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.