Crap Towns / Nottinghamshire / Rainworth
Rainworth
67/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 67. 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 Rainworth? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Whose pothole is it? Nobody's.
Old pit village split between councils, so nobody fixes the potholes.
Rainworth is said Renneth, and you'll get told before you've finished saying it wrong. It's an old pit village split between Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood, so every pothole on the bypass is somebody else's problem, and Newark and Sherwood's B roads are a state anyway. Locals had to fight off an incinerator on the old pit site. Now there's a supermarket plan, and they're braced for that.
The incinerator never came, so somebody's doing it by hand. The fire brigade gets called to deliberate fires at 2.5 times the typical town's rate, mostly grass and woodland, and the anti-social lot are busy too. The last bus pulls out at 9.08pm on a Wednesday, so a late one means a long walk home past whatever's on fire. Rainworth Water's nice. Nobody's managed to set fire to that.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rainworth's 81 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 81% of towns.
- Deliberate fires81/10014.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions73/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping64/10013.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Newark and Sherwood council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour64/10017.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene54/1003.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 32 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson48/1006.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution45/1006.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills45/100221 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband36/1001.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 15.9% across the Newark and Sherwood council area
- Rain34/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Worksop | 78 |
| 6 | Clifton | 75 |
| 7 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield | 74 |
| 8 | Stapleford | 71 |
| – | Rainworth | 67 |
| 9 | Eastwood | 67 |
| 10 | Hucknall | 64 |
| 11 | Retford | 60 |
| 12 | Forest Town | 55 |
Rainworth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 68.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 10% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.08pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 18.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 16% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,519 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Newark and Sherwood council
- £2,682 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £290 more than the English average
- 19% of Nottinghamshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rainworth 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.