Crap Towns / Merseyside / Rainford
Rainford
7/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 7. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
The big night out is a picnic
Rainford used to make clay pipes. Now it just sits there being nice. The library shut.
Rainford is a quiet village near St Helens that used to make clay pipes and dig sand for the glassworks. There's hardly any crime, not one storm overflow spilled in three years, and the big night out is Picnic in the Park. Everybody lives within 400 metres of somewhere green. It's sickening, frankly.
They did shut the library. And the village centre has nowhere to park, the school run blocks every road, and somebody's van is always across Leyland Road. The rain turns up on 159 days a year, so the picnic's usually a wet one.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rainford's 82 for rain means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Rain82/100159 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires68/1009.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping66/10011.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, St. Helens council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution49/1008.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene31/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 78 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions19/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband3/1001.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.1% across the St. Helens council area
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour0/1002.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Litherland | 59 |
| 12 | Bebington | 50 |
| 13 | Crosby | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Maghull | 36 |
| 15 | Southport | 34 |
| 16 | West Kirby | 29 |
| 17 | Formby | 27 |
| 18 | Heswall | 16 |
| – | Rainford | 7 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Rainford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 35.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 54% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.6 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Rainford Library (2024)
- 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
- 12.12am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,466 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
St. Helens council
- £2,403 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £11 more than the English average
- 13% of St. Helens council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rainford 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.