Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Rawdon
Rawdon
37/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 37. 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 Rawdon? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Rawdon. Stuck at the crossroads.
Protecting the Billing from developers and the village from being mistaken for Leeds.
Rawdon is a nice enough village with a big hill called the Billing and fields that developers keep eyeing up. The crossroads on Harrogate Road are always jammed, the buses go everywhere except where you want, and parked cars make crossing the road a gamble.
Nobody smashes anything up and every house can get superfast broadband, so Rawdon can object to the developers online. Sewage goes in the water nearby for nearly fourteen times the typical town's hours, mind. All that fuss about keeping the Billing nice, and the water's full of shit.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rawdon's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1003,802 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping79/10015.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Leeds council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain70/100144 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution68/10010.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions31/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene31/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 28 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour17/1006.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires14/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband3/1000.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.0% across the Leeds council area
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
| 31 | Otley | 55 |
| 32 | Ilkley | 48 |
| 33 | Guiseley | 48 |
| 34 | Kippax | 44 |
| 35 | Yeadon | 43 |
| 36 | Garforth | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.– | Rawdon | 37 |
| 37 | Wetherby | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Rawdon by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 46.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 40% 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: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 6 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 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
- 12.06am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 38.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,329 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 13% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Leeds council
Have a crap-off
Rawdon 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.