Crap Towns / Devon / Northam
Northam
17/100Crap Score
People from here are Potwallopers.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 17. 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
Potwalloping. It's a real word.
In Northam they put the pebbles back after the sea moves them. They call it potwalloping. Honest.
Northam has the Burrows, a pebble ridge, golf, and sheep and horses wandering about. Once a year locals put the pebbles back on the ridge after the sea's knocked them off. They call it potwalloping. Crime's next to nothing and nobody fly-tips. The moans are the speed camera on Heywood Road and holiday lets taking the houses. Rough life.
There are over five times the typical town's swimming pools per head, and Westward Ho! came out Excellent for bathing, so you can swim wherever you like. The one blot is somebody setting fires, more often than the typical town gets.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Northam's 93 for broadband means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Broadband93/10013.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 40.0% across the Torridge council area
- Rain79/100154 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills73/100679 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires66/1008.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene59/1004.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 22 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions26/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson4/1003.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping4/1003.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Torridge council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution2/1002.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour2/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
| 14 | Brixham | 23 |
| 15 | Ivybridge | 18 |
| – | Northam | 17 |
| 16 | Exmouth | 12 |
| 17 | Sidmouth | 5 |
Northam by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 26.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 65% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Excellent Westward Ho!'s bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 5.6x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.20am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 22.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 48% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,650 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Torridge council
Have a crap-off
Northam 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.