Crap Towns / Cornwall / Redruth
Redruth
33/100Crap Score
Known as Redrough.
657th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in Cornwall. 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
Redruth. The R in CRAP.
Old tin mining town. Statue of a miner, a pasty festival and a lot of empty shops.
Redruth dug tin and copper and has a statue of a miner in the middle of town to remind you. Now it's empty shops, tatty shopfronts and charity shops, and nothing on of an evening. Locals call it Dreadruth.
Halifax and Lloyds have shut, and 3.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband, over seven times the typical town's share. Fair play, the sewers barely spill at all, which is more than Camborne can say. With Camborne and Pool it spells CRAP. They're stuck with each other.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Redruth's 91 for broadband means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Broadband91/10012.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Rain84/100161 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson70/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions61/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires37/1004.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene32/1001.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 75 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping16/1005.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cornwall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution10/1004.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills6/1001.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Liskeard | 58 |
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Saltash | 38 |
| 10 | Redruth | 33 |
| 11 | Helston | 25 |
| 12 | Penryn | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Redruth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 74.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 5 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
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 13) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 12.9 per 100,000 people, 3.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.29am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 3.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 7.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 20.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 34% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,622 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Redruth 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.