Crap Towns / Norfolk / North Walsham
North Walsham
17/100Crap Score
Known as Nor Walsham, or Wals'm.
814th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in Norfolk. 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
Nor Walsham. Quiet for a reason.
An old weaving town with water towers and a high street that sells everyone's old clothes back to them.
North Walsham's a quiet Norfolk market town with water towers you can see for miles, low crime and hardly any fly-tipping. It's where the Peasants' Revolt got crushed in 1381, so the locals know how to lose a fight. They used to make cloth here. Now the high street's got far more charity shops than a town this size should, and they sell it back to each other.
Gigabit broadband reaches 79.9% of premises. Lloyds and Santander have both shut branches, more than four times the typical town's rate, and the evening buses are thin on the ground, so a quiet night in it is.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
North Walsham's 97 for broadband means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Broadband97/10020.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 45.5% across the North Norfolk council area
- Serious road collisions71/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills42/100195 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain39/100124 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution34/1005.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson32/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene29/1001.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 83 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour14/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires6/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping5/1004.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Norfolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Thetford | 49 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Dereham | 35 |
| 7 | Downham Market | 33 |
| 8 | Bradwell | 33 |
| 9 | Wymondham | 18 |
| 10 | North Walsham | 17 |
| 11 | Watton | 10 |
| 12 | Attleborough | 4 |
| 13 | Taverham and Drayton | 1 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
North Walsham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 55.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 27% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 15 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 11.7 per 10,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 14 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 12) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 15.6 per 100,000 people, 4.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 10.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 35% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,645 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
North Norfolk council
- £2,460 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £68 more than the English average
- 8% of Norfolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
North Walsham 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.