Crap TownsBritain's towns, rated by the people stuck in them

Crap Towns / Lancashire / Oswaldtwistle

Welcome to

Oswaldtwistle

Ossy. Because nobody can spell the rest.
Twinned with a word nobody can spell

95/100Crap Score

Locals call the top end Gobbinland.

53rd crappest of 984 towns, and 16th in Lancashire. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

See the race

The 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 Oswaldtwistle? Write in.

Yes, it's really called that.

The spinning jenny started here. Nothing much has started here since.

Oswaldtwistle gave the world the spinning jenny and has spent the time since getting its name mangled. Locals just say Ossy, and the top end is Gobbinland. Haslingden Old Road slid down a hill and took ages to fix, people tear along Blackburn Road, and everyone parks on the pavement.

You get rain on 176 days a year and the sun gets 1,316 hours. Anti-social behaviour comes in at 2.4 times the typical town's rate, some idiot sets a fire four times as often, and the cars get nicked or broken into at more than twice the typical town's rate. Hyndburn's fly-tippers do the rest.

The editor, who gave up and wrote Ossy

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Oswaldtwistle's 96 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 96% of towns.

  • Anti-social behaviour96/10034.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Rain96/100176 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
  • Fly-tipping93/10033.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Hyndburn council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
  • Deliberate fires90/10022.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
  • Criminal damage and arson78/1009.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Serious road collisions71/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
  • Food hygiene60/1003.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 94 food businesses with a rating
  • Sewage spills49/100275 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
  • Air pollution38/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
  • Broadband11/1001.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.2% across the Hyndburn council area
Your patch: LancashireTowns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
PosTownNationalScore
12Brierfield31st97
13Morecambe34th97
14Haslingden37th96
15Great Harwood41st96
16Oswaldtwistle53rd95
17Blackpool77th92
18Fleetwood92nd91
19Skelmersdale147th85
20Fulwood176th82

Oswaldtwistle by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Hyndburn council

Have a crap-off

Oswaldtwistle against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

OswaldtwistleCrap Score 95
v
ChurchCrap Score 97

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.