Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Northallerton
Northallerton
56/100Crap Score
436th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in North Yorkshire. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Last bus before your tea.
County town with a main-line station and an evening bus service that doesn't exist.
Northallerton is the county town, full of council offices and parking signs nobody understands. The High Street is wide and lined with bookies, charity shops and pubs, with plenty of empty units. The old prison had a punishment treadmill. Now there's the car park.
The buses stop at 6.40pm on a Wednesday. Not one leaves after 7pm, and on a Sunday you'd be quicker walking. Anti-social behaviour is running at more than twice the typical town's rate, and so is shoplifting. Barclays, Halifax and Santander have all shut a branch. It's got 25 hairdressers, so at least you'll look nice at the bus stop.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Northallerton's 94 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour94/10030.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson88/10011.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband70/1008.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Sewage spills54/100329 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions52/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain45/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires42/1005.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene41/1002.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 101 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution21/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Skipton | 74 |
| 7 | Redcar | 71 |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
| 9 | Whitby | 64 |
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Northallerton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 92.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 22% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.5 per 10,000 people, 8.3x the typical town's 0.9
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 25 hairdressers, 9 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 15) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 22.5 per 100,000 people, 6.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.5 per 10,000 people, 2.8x 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
- 6.40pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 33.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,441 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Yorkshire council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 18% of North Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 41 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Northallerton 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.