Crap Towns / South Yorkshire / Rawmarsh
Rawmarsh
93/100Crap Score
69th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in South Yorkshire. 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
Chips through the railings.
Rawmarsh got famous when parents passed chips to their kids through the school railings.
Rawmarsh's big moment on the news was parents passing chips and burgers through the school railings. Meanwhile the old miners' institute is falling apart, traffic crawls down Rawmarsh Hill, Broad Street chokes on fumes and Green Hill gets fly-tipped. Claims to be England's biggest village. Shame.
The bad crashes happen at twice the typical town's rate, so Rawmarsh Hill's not just slow. The water company lets sewage out nearby for over eight times as long as in the typical town, and shoplifting comes in at over three times. Half the place is more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and there's no swimming pool. No wonder the kids wanted chips.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rawmarsh's 96 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Sewage spills96/1002,299 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions95/1004.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution85/10010.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires84/10015.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping84/10020.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rotherham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour59/10016.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain46/100126 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene43/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 140 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband1/1000.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.3% across the Rotherham council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnsley | 98 |
| 2 | Rotherham | 97 |
| 3 | Cudworth and Shafton | 95 |
| 4 | Sheffield | 94 |
| 5 | Rawmarsh | 93 |
| 6 | Mexborough | 92 |
| 7 | Dinnington | 92 |
| 8 | Bentley | 91 |
| 9 | Wombwell | 91 |
Rawmarsh by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 121 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 3.2 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 12) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.2 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 11.59pm last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 49.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,526 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Rotherham council
- £2,382 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £10 less than the English average
- 9% of Rotherham council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 44% lower than England's 16%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rawmarsh 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.