Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Pontefract
Pontefract
92/100Crap Score
78th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th in West Yorkshire. 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
Monte Carlo? It's got liquorice.
They make liquorice and call it Ponte Carlo. It's not Monte Carlo. It's Pontefract.
Pontefract is famous for liquorice and has a racecourse, so somebody started calling it Ponte Carlo. It's a long way from Monte Carlo. Park Road is a traffic jam, the bollards in the precinct broke and let the cars in, and serious crashes run at nearly twice the typical town's rate. The castle's a ruin. Have a Pontefract cake.
Banks have announced 5 branch closures here since 2022, four and a half times the typical town's rate for its size. South Pontefract library shut in 2011. Some knobhead sets fire to things at three times the typical town's rate. It's dry, mind, with rainfall well under the typical town's. And there's 33 pubs. That's the Ponte Carlo bit.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pontefract's 93 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Serious road collisions93/1004.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires87/10017.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour87/10016.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson78/1009.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping75/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wakefield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution70/1009.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills67/100552 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband59/10012.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Wakefield council area
- Food hygiene35/1001.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 212 food businesses with a rating
- Rain17/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Huddersfield | 95 |
| 8 | Elland | 94 |
| 9 | Batley | 94 |
| 10 | Wakefield | 93 |
| 11 | Pontefract | 92 |
| 12 | South Elmsall | 91 |
| 13 | Cleckheaton | 90 |
| 14 | Leeds | 89 |
| 15 | Castleford | 88 |
Pontefract by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 111 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 46% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 33 pubs, 32 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 38) Better: 35% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 15.2 per 100,000 people, 4.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: South Pontefract (2011)
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.44pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 27.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,410 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Wakefield council
- £2,297 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 less than the English average
- 19% of Wakefield council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Pontefract 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.