Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Oundle
Oundle
8/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 8. 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
Posh as fuck
It's all limestone, posh school buildings and red kites. The worst thing here is the school run.
Oundle is a lovely limestone town with a famous public school spread right through it, so the whole place looks like a prospectus. Crime's about half the typical town's, nothing gets set on fire, and the red kites are the only things round here circling with intent.
Every morning the school run fills the streets with cars the size of a bungalow, parked wherever the signs nobody understands allow. Barclays left in 2023, which for a town this size works out at 4.7 times the typical town's rate of bank closures. The charity shops per head run at over three times the typical town's, full of better clothes than yours. Very nice. Not for the likes of us.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Oundle's 62 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 62% of towns.
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband47/1009.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
- Air pollution38/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills35/100126 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour26/10011.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions17/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain10/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson6/1003.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires5/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 10 | Desborough | 21 |
| 11 | Brackley | 13 |
| – | Oundle | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Oundle by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 37.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 51% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 180 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 288 per 10,000 people, 84.7x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 3 charity shops on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 16.0 per 100,000 people, 4.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) About the same: 1.6 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.18am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 49% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,608 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Oundle 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.