Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Richmond
Richmond
20/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 20. 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
Very nice. No trains.
Castle, cobbles, waterfalls and nowhere to park. And it knows it's lovely.
Richmond is gorgeous and knows it. Castle over the river, cobbled Market Place, waterfalls and an old Georgian theatre. Parking is a nightmare, visitors block the road by the Falls and leave their litter by the river, and there's no railway station. Some newcomers say it's cliquey. Lovely, though.
The storm overflows nearby go off for nearly five times the typical town's hours. It's got about six times the typical town's charity shops per head, 2 bookies and no swimming pool, and Barclays has gone. Legend says a drummer boy went into a tunnel under the castle and never came out. He'd found somewhere to park.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Richmond's 88 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Sewage spills88/1001,343 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband81/10013.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Rain63/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour43/10014.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires31/1004.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions26/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson23/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene11/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 70 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution7/1003.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
| – | Richmond | 20 |
| 16 | Harrogate | 16 |
| 17 | Ripon | 15 |
| 18 | Ingleby Barwick | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Richmond by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 49.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 35% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.4 per 10,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 12.4 per 100,000 people, 3.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.0 per 10,000 people, 3.1x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.03pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 7.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 50% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,441 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Yorkshire council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 18% of North Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 41 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Richmond 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.