Crap Towns / Hampshire / Petersfield
Petersfield
26/100Crap Score
732nd crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in Hampshire. 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
Pleasant. Tediously so.
A market town with a boating pond. No buses on Sunday.
Petersfield is pleasant, middling and full of charity shops. There's a heath with a boating pond, some Bronze Age barrows and the South Downs out the back. The moans are commuters parking in every street, wonky paving and crossings that make no sense. Market day it jams.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have all shut a branch, nearly eight times the typical town's rate, so the charity shops have the High Street to themselves. The last bus pulls out at 7.09pm and there's none on a Sunday. The rest of the time it's quiet enough to hear the ducks.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Petersfield's 83 for broadband means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Broadband83/1009.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 26.2% across the East Hampshire council area
- Serious road collisions61/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain53/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills51/100285 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Fly-tipping45/10010.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Hampshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson31/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene29/1001.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 83 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution27/1006.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour8/1007.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires5/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | New Milton | 32 |
| 7 | Eastleigh | 29 |
| 8 | Gosport | 28 |
| 9 | Totton | 28 |
| 10 | Petersfield | 26 |
| 11 | Aldershot | 23 |
| 12 | Tadley | 22 |
| 13 | Fareham | 20 |
| 14 | Lymington | 18 |
Petersfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 60.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 191 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 127 per 10,000 people, 37.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 26.7 per 100,000 people, 7.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.7 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 7.09pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 6.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 58% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,658 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Hampshire council
- £2,344 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £48 less than the English average
- 8% of Hampshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Petersfield 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.