Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Radcliffe
Radcliffe
81/100Crap Score
188th crappest of 984 towns, and 35th in Greater Manchester. 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
Even the tower's a ruin
Bury's forgotten town, if you ask the locals. The market hall's had a do-up. The rest is shutters.
Radcliffe's oldest building is a ruined tower and the high street's been doing its best to match it. Shutters, To Let signs and a regeneration plan everyone's been hearing about for years. Fair play, the market hall's been done up and it's busy.
There's one hairdresser and one bookie for the whole town, two libraries have shut and there's no pool. A bin gets set alight nearly eight times as often as in the typical town, and the storm overflows spill for more than five times as long. Locals reckon Bury forgets they exist. Bury probably does.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Radcliffe's 89 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Sewage spills89/1001,474 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires88/10019.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain84/100161 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution76/10011.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping73/10015.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bury council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson58/1007.7 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Serious road collisions57/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene54/1002.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 108 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour45/10014.7 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Broadband19/1003.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Bury council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Wythenshawe | 83 |
| 32 | Failsworth | 81 |
| 33 | Platt Bridge and Abram | 81 |
| 34 | Hindley | 81 |
| 35 | Radcliffe | 81 |
| 36 | Whitefield | 81 |
| 37 | Little Lever | 80 |
| 38 | Dukinfield | 79 |
| 39 | Prestwich | 79 |
Radcliffe by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 87.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 35% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
What's left on the high street
- 15 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 39) Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 libraries shut for good since 2010: Coronation Road Community Centre & Library (2017) and Dumers Lane Community Centre & Library (2017)
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.41am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 16.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,370 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bury council
Have a crap-off
Radcliffe 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.