Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Ripon
Ripon
15/100Crap Score
Locals are Riponians.
838th crappest of 984 towns, and 17th in North Yorkshire. 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 Ripon? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Mind the hole in the garden
Tiny city, big cathedral, and holes opening up under people's gardens.
Ripon blows a horn in the Market Place every night, and has for centuries. It's also famous for sinkholes, so the ground under your house might just go. Shops keep turning into charity shops, there's nothing for teenagers to do and the Market Place paving is knackered. It's tidy enough otherwise. If the ground holds.
It's a city, and they'll remind you, but 23.3% of it can't get gigabit broadband and the buses run about a quarter as often as the typical town's. Barclays and Halifax have both gone, and 2 swimming pools have closed since 2010. The kitchens are spotless, mind. Eat before the floor goes.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ripon's 92 for broadband means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Broadband92/10023.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Sewage spills78/100798 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour54/10015.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain42/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions20/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson20/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution13/1005.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires9/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene6/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 97 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
| 16 | Harrogate | 16 |
| 17 | Ripon | 15 |
| 18 | Ingleby Barwick | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ripon by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 47.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 38% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 14 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.4 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 2 vape shops, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 12.1 per 100,000 people, 3.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.4 per 10,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.49pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,449 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% 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
Ripon 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.