Crap Towns / West Midlands / Pelsall
Pelsall
65/100Crap Score
349th crappest of 984 towns, and 16th in the West Midlands. 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
Pelsall. Check the hygiene rating.
Village common, canal, carnival, and a takeaway scene that wants a good scrub.
Pelsall reckons it's a village. It's got the common, which everyone calls the Cracker, a canal junction, the Fingerpost, a carnival and an old ironworks done up as a nature reserve. OS maps no public park here at all, which will be news to anyone stood on the Cracker. It still gets set on fire: the firebugs are busy, at nearly twice the typical town's rate, mostly outdoors.
Then there's the food. 2 of the 10 takeaways with a hygiene rating score 0 to 2, five times the typical town's share, and the rest of the food businesses aren't much better. The vape shops per head run at over six times the typical town's, so at least something round here smells of strawberries.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pelsall's 85 for air pollution means it's crapper than 85% of towns.
- Air pollution85/10010.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene79/1008.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping77/10017.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Walsall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires74/10010.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills64/100487 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain57/100132 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions39/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour34/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson29/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband20/1003.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Walsall council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Tipton | 72 |
| 13 | Darlaston | 71 |
| 14 | Smethwick | 70 |
| 15 | Bilston | 68 |
| 16 | Pelsall | 65 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 58 |
| 18 | Coventry | 57 |
| 19 | Brierley Hill | 56 |
| 20 | Rowley Regis | 41 |
Pelsall by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 58.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 23% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 5.7 per 10,000 people, 72% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 20.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 10) Worse: 5x the typical town's 4.0%
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.32pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,440 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Walsall council
Have a crap-off
Pelsall 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.