Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Potton
Potton
6/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 6. 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 Potton? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Nice square. Quiet. Very quiet.
Georgian square, plenty of pubs and bugger all chance of a Sunday bus.
Potton's got a lovely Georgian square, rebuilt after a great fire, and twice the typical town's pubs for its size. Somebody calls it Grotton, which is harsh. Locals reckon a hare running through town means a fire's coming, which tells you how long it's been since anything happened.
The buses stop at 6.05pm and there's none on a Sunday, so the pubs had better be good. There isn't a public park, just the play spaces, and the lorries still thunder through the square as if it's a bypass.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Potton's 46 for broadband means it's crapper than 46% of towns.
- Broadband46/1005.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Central Bedfordshire council area
- Fly-tipping40/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Central Bedfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires38/1004.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution35/1005.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene35/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 21 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions25/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour20/10010.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson20/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills10/1008.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain6/100111 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| – | Potton | 6 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
| 10 | Biggleswade | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Potton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 37.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 51% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 109 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 208 per 10,000 people, 61.2x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 6.05pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 18.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 17% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,578 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Central Bedfordshire council
- £2,516 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £124 more than the English average
- 13% of Central Bedfordshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 17 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Potton 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.