Crap Towns / Clwyd / Rhyl
Rhyl
94/100Crap Score
64th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Clwyd. 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
Rhyl. It used to be fun.
The pier went, the Sun Centre went and the cinema went. The bad headlines stayed.
Rhyl was a proper seaside town once. The pier went, the Sun Centre went, the cinema went. They tarted up the seafront and the High Street stayed bookies and charity shops.
Anti-social behaviour runs at two and a half times the typical town's rate and it's still going up. Crime's over twice, criminal damage over twice, and a couple of the bathing waters only scraped Sufficient. It's the crappest town in Clwyd by a distance. Locals are allowed to slag it off. Prestatyn isn't.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rhyl's 97 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour97/10035.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson97/10015.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions86/1003.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband85/10014.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.2% across the Denbighshire council area
- Fly-tipping82/10019.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Denbighshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene69/1003.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 232 food businesses with a rating
- Rain67/100139 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Sewage spills28/10086.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution6/1004.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhyl | 94 |
| 2 | Llandudno | 87 |
| 3 | Colwyn Bay | 78 |
| 4 | Prestatyn | 71 |
| 5 | Wrexham | 66 |
| 6 | Flint | 63 |
| 7 | Rhosllannerchrugog | 54 |
| 8 | Connah's Quay | 52 |
| 9 | Hawarden | 43 |
Rhyl by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 165 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 76.2
- 23 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.5 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 0 of 4 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 18 pubs, 24 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 6 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 45) Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 7.4 per 100,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 9 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.43am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,497 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Denbighshire council
Have a crap-off
Rhyl 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.