Crap Towns / Leicestershire / Oadby
Oadby
0/100Crap Score
983rd crappest of 984 towns, and 19th in Leicestershire. 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
Oadby. Not Leicester, thanks.
Racecourse, botanic garden, no crime. The banks have all left, but quietly, so as not to make a fuss.
Oadby sits on the edge of Leicester and would rather you didn't bring it up. It's got the racecourse, the university's botanic garden and a student village it puts up with. Crime's low, nobody sets fire to the bins, and the council logged 41 fly-tips in a whole year. In some towns that's a Tuesday.
The banks have been sneaking off all the same. Closures run at 4.9 times the typical town's rate for its size, and the banking hub they were promised hasn't turned up. What's left is charity shops, 3.3 times the typical town's per head, so the posh high street now runs on other people's cardigans. There's one public bog in the whole town. Everyone holds it till Leicester, the only thing they'll go there for.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Oadby's 70 for air pollution means it's crapper than 70% of towns.
- Air pollution70/1009.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain33/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills29/10089.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene25/1001.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 95 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions15/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson12/1004.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour4/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband0/1001.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 1.6% across the Oadby and Wigston council area
- Deliberate fires0/1000.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping0/1000.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Oadby and Wigston council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Mountsorrel | 10 |
| 12 | Earl Shilton | 9 |
| 13 | Ashby-de-la-Zouch | 7 |
| 14 | Lutterworth | 2 |
| 15 | Syston | 1 |
| 16 | Market Harborough | 1 |
| 17 | Wigston | 1 |
| 18 | Birstall | 1 |
| 19 | Oadby | 0 |
Oadby by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 47.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 38% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 8 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.3 per 10,000 people, 3x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 18) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 16.6 per 100,000 people, 4.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 75% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.14am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 27.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,472 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Oadby and Wigston council
- £2,407 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £15 more than the English average
- 11% of Leicestershire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 31% lower than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Oadby 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.