Crap Towns / Devon / Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot
39/100Crap Score
Known as Newton Scabbot.
605th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Devon. 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 Newton Abbot? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
They did up the market. No market.
They did up the market hall. They forgot to put a market in it.
Newton Abbot spent a fortune doing up its old market hall, and it's sitting empty. The cattle market has gone, the high street is going and the traffic round Asda is murder. Locals call it Newton Armpit or Nabbo.
Sewage comes out of the overflows for six times as long as in the typical town, and Teignbridge charges £2,643 for a Band D home for the view. It used to be a big railway town, which is nice if you like history and are leaving by train.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Newton Abbot's 91 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Sewage spills91/1001,668 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband73/1006.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.1% across the Teignbridge council area
- Rain67/100140 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson51/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires45/1005.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour44/10014.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions30/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping28/1007.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Teignbridge council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene22/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 158 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution12/1004.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Tiverton | 69 |
| 5 | Paignton | 53 |
| 6 | Exeter | 45 |
| 7 | Bideford | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Newton Abbot | 39 |
| 9 | Honiton | 37 |
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Newton Abbot by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.8 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
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 16) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 About the same: 3.4 per 100,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.01am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 25.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,654 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Teignbridge council
Have a crap-off
Newton Abbot 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.