Crap Towns / Cornwall / Pool and Illogan
Pool and Illogan
57/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 57. 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 Pool and Illogan? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Pool. The mines shut. So did the rest.
Old tin mining country. The heritage centre has shut and the boy racers have moved in.
Pool and Illogan dug tin and copper for centuries and still have the old engine houses to prove it. The mining heritage centre at Heartlands has shut its visitor bits and nobody knows what's next, while the vandals get to work on it. Illogan's roads are a racetrack.
Anti-social behaviour comes in at 1.8 times the typical town's rate and the local firebugs are always setting fire to something. Only 47.2% of premises can get gigabit, and 143 can't get the legal minimum at all. The engine houses look better than the town.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pool and Illogan's 99 for broadband means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Broadband99/10052.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Criminal damage and arson88/10011.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour87/10024.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain82/100159 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires74/10011.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions47/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills46/100239 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene17/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 57 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping16/1005.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cornwall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution8/1004.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Truro | 76 |
| 2 | Penzance | 71 |
| 3 | Bodmin | 60 |
| 4 | Liskeard | 58 |
| – | Pool and Illogan | 57 |
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
Pool and Illogan by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 96.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.5 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- Excellent Portreath's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.21am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 4.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 8.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,641 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Pool and Illogan 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.