Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Redbourn
Redbourn
17/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 17. 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
Anything but Hemel, please
Cricket on the common, a watermill and a deep fear of becoming part of Hemel Hempstead.
Redbourn's a nice village with cricket on the common, a watermill and old coaching inns, and it's terrified of turning into Hemel Hempstead. Can't blame it. Crime's about half the typical town's, and it's got five times the typical town's parks for its size, so there's plenty of green for Hemel to build on.
The buses are vanishing: the last one on a Wednesday goes at 8.20pm and Sundays are barely worth getting up for. Superfast broadband misses five times the typical town's share of premises. The M1 hums away all night, and Hemel creeps closer every year.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Redbourn's 83 for air pollution means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Air pollution83/10010.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene60/1004.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 21 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires54/1005.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour47/10014.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband38/1006.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.5% across the St Albans council area
- Serious road collisions36/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain28/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson16/1004.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping11/1004.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, St Albans council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Bishop's Stortford | 19 |
| 17 | Tring | 19 |
| 18 | Royston | 18 |
| 19 | St Albans | 18 |
| – | Redbourn | 17 |
| 20 | Ware | 8 |
| 21 | Sawbridgeworth | 7 |
| 22 | Hertford | 7 |
| 23 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley | 7 |
Redbourn by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 40.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 48% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 17.4 per 10,000 people, 5.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 3 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than 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
- 8.20pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 5x the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 46% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,614 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
St Albans council
- £2,419 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £27 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Redbourn 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.