Crap Towns / Suffolk / Red Lodge
Red Lodge
0/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 0. 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
Red Lodge. The wasps got a say.
A big new estate on the heath, where rare wasps had more say than the residents.
Red Lodge was rabbit warrens, then a load of new houses very quickly, with the shops and everything else turning up later. People called it a ghost town. Rare digger wasps on the heath managed to change the building plans, which is more than the residents ever managed.
It's turned out annoyingly decent. Crime's a third below the typical town's, nobody fly-tips and nearly everyone lives a short walk from a play space. Red Lodge has 1 pub. The buses stop at 7.20pm and on a Sunday there isn't one. So that's your evening.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Red Lodge's 54 for broadband means it's crapper than 54% of towns.
- Broadband54/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the West Suffolk council area
- Food hygiene44/100
- Air pollution39/1005.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson29/1005.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires13/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour11/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain9/100113 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions7/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping0/1001.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Suffolk council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Ipswich | 15 |
| 4 | Haverhill | 11 |
| 5 | Newmarket | 9 |
| 6 | Stowmarket | 7 |
| 7 | Felixstowe | 6 |
| 8 | Woodbridge | 4 |
| 9 | Bury St Edmunds | 3 |
| 10 | Kesgrave | 0 |
| – | Red Lodge | 0 |
Red Lodge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 50.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.9 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 1 hairdresser 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
- 7.20pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 1.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 89% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,604 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
West Suffolk council
- £2,351 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £41 less than the English average
- 22% of Suffolk County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Red Lodge 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.