Rishton

We've got a reservoir. That's the leisure centre.

Twinned with Great Harwood, which looks down on it

88/100Crap Score

Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 88. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

See the race

The public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.

Letters from the locals

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Rough and bored.

A mill town by the canal, with old factory sites rotting and nothing for anyone to do.

Rishton's a little mill town on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal with a reservoir you can sail on. That's the leisure offer. Done. There's no pool. The old factory sites are left to rot and the towpath comes with dog muck.

For a place this size there's a lot going on, none of it good. Anti-social behaviour runs at twice the typical town's rate, vandalism at 1.7 times, and the local yobs set a fire nearly four times as often, bins mostly. It's wet on 166 days a year. The kitchens are clean, fair play. Great Harwood looks down on it. Fair.

The editor, who checked his shoes after the towpath

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Rishton's 93 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 93% of towns.

Anti-social behaviour93/10029.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
Fly-tipping93/10033.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Hyndburn council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
Criminal damage and arson93/10012.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
Rain89/100166 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
Deliberate fires89/10022.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
Serious road collisions72/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
Sewage spills41/100185 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
Air pollution38/1007.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
Food hygiene23/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 43 food businesses with a rating
Broadband19/1003.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.2% across the Hyndburn council area

**Your patch: Lancashire**Towns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
Pos	Town	National	Score
15	Great Harwood	41st	96
16	Oswaldtwistle	53rd	95
17	Blackpool	77th	92
18	Fleetwood	92nd	91
–	Rishton	–	88
19	Skelmersdale	147th	85
20	Fulwood	176th	82
21	Chorley	191st	81
22	Clitheroe	227th	77

Rishton by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Hyndburn council

Have a crap-off

Rishton against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

Against

RishtonCrap Score 88

Great HarwoodCrap Score 96

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.