Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Northampton
Northampton
82/100Crap Score
People from here are Cobblers.
175th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Northamptonshire. 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 Northampton? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Made the shoes. Lost the shops.
It made the nation's shoes. Now the shopping streets look like they've been kicked in.
Northampton made boots for the army and shoes for everyone else, and has been asking to be a city for years. The answer keeps coming back no. The tallest thing in town is a tower built for testing lifts. Locals call it the Lighthouse, and it's the only thing in Northampton that's gone up in a while.
West Northamptonshire council logged fly-tipping at 3.9 times the typical council's rate, which means the countryside round the town is basically a skip with hedges. The food's a gamble too: the share of places scoring 0 to 2 on hygiene is two and a half times the typical town's. Have a kebab after the Cobblers lose and you'll have two things to be sick about.
The ombudsman upheld 45 complaints against the council in a year. Far Cotton lost its library, the shopping streets look kicked in and finding a public bog is a day out in itself. Peterborough fans think they're better than all this. They're from Peterborough.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Northampton's 96 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Fly-tipping96/10042.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene93/1006.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 935 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour86/10023.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution82/10010.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson60/1007.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires57/1006.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions52/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills23/10051.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband21/1003.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the West Northamptonshire council area
- Rain20/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northampton | 82 |
| 2 | Daventry | 75 |
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Northampton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 99.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 4,388 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 180 per 10,000 people, 52.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 12 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 99 pubs, 136 hairdressers, 26 charity shops, 25 bookmakers, 9 vape shops, 23 banks, 8 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 8.4% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (11 of 131) Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.2 per 100,000 people, 65% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Far Cotton (2021)
- 15 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 14 public swimming pools open; 4 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.43am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 19.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,535 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
West Northamptonshire council
- £2,487 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 more than the English average
- 13% of West Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 45 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Northampton 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.