Crap Towns / Mid Glamorgan / Pencoed
Pencoed
16/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 16. 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 Pencoed? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
The whole town waits for a train
The railway goes right through the middle, and when the barriers come down the whole town stops.
Pencoed is split down the middle by the railway, and when the level crossing barriers come down, the whole town stops. The other way across is the Penprysg bridge, which is too narrow for anything. They've been promising money to fix both for years.
It rains on 170 days a year, so you're getting soaked at the barrier as well. Sunday buses are thin on the ground too. Otherwise it's annoyingly decent. Locals have so much spare time they argue about the hyphen.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pencoed's 92 for rain means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Rain92/100170 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills70/100605 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping55/10010.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bridgend council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 34 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband21/1003.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.9% across the Bridgend council area
- Criminal damage and arson20/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution19/1006.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour11/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions2/1000.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Tonypandy | 52 |
| 8 | Mountain Ash | 49 |
| 9 | Tonyrefail | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Church Village | 35 |
| 11 | Bridgend | 32 |
| 12 | Pyle | 25 |
| – | Pencoed | 16 |
| 13 | Sarn | 10 |
| 14 | Porthcawl | 9 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Pencoed by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 cash machine closure assessed by LINK
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.57pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3x the typical town's 0.5%
- 6.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 56% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,538 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Bridgend council
Have a crap-off
Pencoed 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.