Crap Towns / Mid Glamorgan / Pontyclun
Pontyclun
32/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 32. 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
Pontyclun. The other Ponty.
Pontyclun is so nice there's nothing to moan about except the school run. Gutted.
Pontyclun grew up round the railway, has a rugby club called the Badgers and gets mixed up with Pontypridd all the time. There's next to no crime and the roads are safe. The school run parks across everyone's drive and nobody ever enforces the parking rules.
There's rain on 169 days a year and the sewage ends up in the river. There's a Greggs, nearly six times the typical town's per head, and the pubs are fine.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pontyclun's 91 for rain means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Rain91/100169 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills89/1001,452 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband74/1009.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.6% across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area
- Fly-tipping71/10015.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rhondda Cynon Taf council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Food hygiene41/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 56 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution37/1008.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson3/1003.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour1/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions1/1000.1 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 |
| – | Pontyclun | 32 |
| 12 | Pyle | 25 |
| 13 | Sarn | 10 |
| 14 | Porthcawl | 9 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Pontyclun by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 36.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 52% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 4.9x the typical town's 0.7
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.2 per 100,000 people, 5.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.20am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 43% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,556 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Rhondda Cynon Taf council
Have a crap-off
Pontyclun 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.