Crap Towns / Greater London / Newham
Newham
90/100Crap Score
101st crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in Greater London. 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
They put West Ham on a running track.
Stratford got an Olympics and a Westfield. The rest of Newham got the bookies and the planes.
Stratford had the Olympics, and you'll hear about it. The stadium went to West Ham, who now watch their football from the far side of a running track and still sing about Upton Park. Canning Town's been knocked down and rebuilt so often nobody recognises it, and the City Airport planes go over the lot.
East Ham gets the fly-tipped mattresses. The council logged 26,502 fly-tips in a single year, five and a half times the typical English council's rate. Then there's the food: 14.9% of the borough's rated kitchens score 0 to 2, more than six times the typical town. The air's got nearly two and a half times the typical town's nitrogen dioxide in it. Say it New Ham if you fancy a row.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Newham's 99 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Food hygiene99/10014.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 2,131 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution99/10020.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 9.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping98/10060.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Newham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour91/10028.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions80/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires60/100
- Broadband48/1008.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 8.1% across the Newham council area
- Criminal damage and arson32/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills10/1007.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain4/100109 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Brent | 91 |
| 9 | Hillingdon | 91 |
| 10 | Croydon | 91 |
| 11 | Ealing | 90 |
| 12 | Newham | 90 |
| 13 | Southwark | 89 |
| 14 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 89 |
| 15 | Hounslow | 89 |
| 16 | Enfield | 88 |
Newham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 115 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 76.2
- 17 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 85% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 14 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 43 pubs, 177 hairdressers, 12 charity shops, 51 bookmakers, 18 vape shops, 18 banks, 8 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 16.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (61 of 370) Worse: 4.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 6 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.7 per 100,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 53 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 10 public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 19 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.01am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 16% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,559 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Newham council
- £1,944 Band D council tax (2026-27) Better: £448 less than the English average
- 16% of Newham council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) About the same: About the same as England's 16%
- 33 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Newham 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.