Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Orrell
Orrell
56/100Crap Score
429th crappest of 984 towns, and 54th in Greater Manchester. 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
Rugby union. In Wigan.
Orrell played rugby union with the big boys once. Now it's the Water Park and a row about parking.
Orrell is the bit of Wigan that played rugby union, which round here is like admitting you don't like pies. The club was up with the best in the country once and now it's back in the local leagues. There's the Water Park on the old reservoirs, the M58, and a running war over cars on the pavement round Church Drive.
There's one public toilet for the whole place and no pool, and 2 of the 15 takeaways with a rating score 0 to 2 for hygiene. There are 4 places on the Heritage at Risk register. Middling, and smug about it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Orrell's 85 for rain means it's crapper than 85% of towns.
- Rain85/100161 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson76/1009.2 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Anti-social behaviour66/10017.5 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Sewage spills65/100502 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene60/1003.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 92 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution57/1009.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping35/1008.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wigan council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions34/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires33/1004.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband23/1005.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.5% across the Wigan council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | Marple | 64 |
| 51 | Golborne | 62 |
| 52 | Reddish | 60 |
| 53 | Stretford | 58 |
| 54 | Orrell | 56 |
| 55 | Stockport | 56 |
| 56 | Ashton-in-Makerfield | 51 |
| 57 | Hazel Grove | 50 |
| 58 | Cheadle | 50 |
Orrell by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 89.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 17% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 74% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 17 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 2 bookmakers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 13.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 15) Worse: 3.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 75% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 4 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.53pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 30.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,434 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Wigan council
Have a crap-off
Orrell 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.