Crap Towns / Hampshire / Ringwood
Ringwood
41/100Crap Score
577th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Hampshire. 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
Got something to say about Ringwood? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Who's crashed on the A31 now?
Every summer the New Forest traffic comes through Ringwood, and something always crashes.
Ringwood is a market town on the edge of the New Forest, which means every caravan in the country comes through it. When one crashes on the A31, everyone's stuck for hours. It used to brew strong ale. You'll need it.
The Wednesday market's shrinking, and the banks have given up on it: 5 branch closures since 2022, over 11 times the typical town's rate for a place this size. What's left is charity shops and vape shops. The sewage goes in the Avon.
Try leaving without a car. Buses after 7pm run at a fraction of the typical town's, and on a Sunday you'd do better thumbing a lift off a caravan.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ringwood's 93 for broadband means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Broadband93/10022.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 22.6% across the New Forest council area
- Sewage spills83/100984 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions82/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain50/100127 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson47/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution35/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping30/1006.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, New Forest council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene22/1001.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 102 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour13/1008.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires10/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southampton | 79 |
| 2 | Havant | 45 |
| 3 | Portsmouth | 44 |
| 4 | Ringwood | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Basingstoke | 38 |
| 6 | New Milton | 32 |
| 7 | Eastleigh | 29 |
| 8 | Gosport | 28 |
| 9 | Totton | 28 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ringwood by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 66.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 61 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 47.7 per 10,000 people, 14x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 39.1 per 100,000 people, 11.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) About the same: 1.6 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 1.6
- 5 public swimming pools open Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 5.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.37pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 32.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,741 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 14% higher than the typical town's 1,532
New Forest council
- £2,420 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £28 more than the English average
- 8% of Hampshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Ringwood 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.