Crap Towns / Berkshire / Reading
Reading
44/100Crap Score
Locals call it the Ding. They call themselves Dingbats.
556th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Berkshire. 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 Reading? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Flats. More flats. Still not a city.
Reading keeps asking to be a city. Everyone keeps telling it to piss off.
Reading made biscuits and beer, has a festival everyone's heard of and keeps applying to be a city and getting turned down. The Ding is all chains, and new blocks of flats go up every week like the city status is coming any minute. Ask a Dingbat what's good about it and they'll tell you how quick the train to London is. They mean it.
The kitchens are a disgrace, with 7% of them given 0 to 2 for hygiene, nearly three times the typical town. Bikes get nicked at nearly five times the typical town's rate, so hang on to yours, and to your phone while you're at it. The Band D bill is £2,613, so it's paying for a city it hasn't got.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Reading's 96 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Food hygiene96/1007.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 1,037 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution71/1009.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour58/10010.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson47/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions45/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping40/1009.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Reading council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires39/100
- Sewage spills21/10045.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain14/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband13/1003.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.6% across the Reading council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slough | 45 |
| 2 | Reading | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.3 | Newbury | 37 |
| 4 | Ascot | 22 |
| 5 | Windsor | 21 |
| 6 | Thatcham | 17 |
| 7 | Bracknell | 7 |
| 8 | Maidenhead | 6 |
| 9 | Wokingham | 5 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Reading by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 95.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 247 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 12.1 per 10,000 people, 11x the typical town's 1.1
- 13 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 63 pubs, 100 hairdressers, 19 charity shops, 22 bookmakers, 7 vape shops, 15 banks, 7 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 8.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (9 of 111) Worse: 2x the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 2.0 per 100,000 people, 41% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Maiden Erlegh (2018)
- 46 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 44% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 18 public swimming pools open; 10 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 18.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 18% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,582 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Reading council
Have a crap-off
Reading 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.