Crap Towns / South Glamorgan / Penarth
Penarth
8/100Crap Score
906th crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in South Glamorgan. 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
Got something to say about Penarth? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Too posh for your chips
A pier so posh you feel like a scruff eating chips on it.
Penarth is Cardiff's posh seaside bit, with a Victorian pier, a marina where the coal docks were and parks along the front. No yobs, no fly-tipping, no crashes to speak of. So the locals moan about cars parked everywhere, the seafront parking charges and the price of houses. The banks have shut 2 branches, which is about as close to a crisis as Penarth gets. Lovely place. Bit pleased with itself.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Penarth's 73 for rain means it's crapper than 73% of towns.
- Rain73/100149 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills66/100517 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband62/10010.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.0% across the Vale of Glamorgan council area
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Air pollution34/1008.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene30/1001.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 181 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson29/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions10/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour8/1007.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping0/1001.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Vale of Glamorgan council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff | 63 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Barry | 15 |
| 3 | Penarth | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Penarth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 57.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 25% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 47 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 16.6 per 10,000 people, 4.9x the typical town's 3.4
- Good Penarth Beach's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 3 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 18) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 7.0 per 100,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 31% higher than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.26am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 18.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 16% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,698 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Vale of Glamorgan council
Have a crap-off
Penarth 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.