Crap Towns / Buckinghamshire / Princes Risborough
Princes Risborough
12/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 12. 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 Princes Risborough? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Nice walks. Shit drains.
Chiltern hills and a steam railway. All very nice until the sewage starts spilling.
Princes Risborough sits under the Chilterns with the Ridgeway on the doorstep and a steam railway to Chinnor, so somebody in walking boots is always about to tell you what a lovely day they've had. Locals call it Princes Rizla. It's tidy, it's safe and it's dull as dishwater.
The High Street has 6.6 times the typical town's charity shops per head, plus hairdressers all over, so a haircut and somebody else's jigsaw makes a big Saturday. The storm overflows round it spilled for 3.7 times as long as the typical town's. They're building a load more houses. The drains have enough on already.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Princes Risborough's 83 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Sewage spills83/1001,017 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband77/10010.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.0% across the Buckinghamshire council area
- Rain46/100126 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution36/1006.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour28/1007.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping27/1007.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Buckinghamshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires23/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene18/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 54 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson11/1004.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions2/1000.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Milton Keynes | 36 |
| 5 | Amersham | 34 |
| 6 | Newport Pagnell | 19 |
| 7 | Flackwell Heath and Wooburn Green | 13 |
| – | Princes Risborough | 12 |
| 8 | Aylesbury | 10 |
| 9 | Buckingham | 8 |
| 10 | Marlow | 6 |
| 11 | Chalfont St Peter | 5 |
Princes Risborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 55.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 27% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 239 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 317 per 10,000 people, 93.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.7 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 2.7 per 10,000 people, 3.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.29pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,532 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Buckinghamshire council
Have a crap-off
Princes Risborough 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.