Crap Towns / Herefordshire / Ross-on-Wye
Ross-on-Wye
20/100Crap Score
784th crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Herefordshire. 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
Charity shop, charity shop, view.
Ross-on-Wye invented tourism, they say. The river's gone green and some of the kitchens aren't great.
Ross-on-Wye calls itself the birthplace of British tourism, with the Market House, the Prospect and canoes on the Wye. The Wye has gone green with algae, and round Brookend Street you can smell why: the storm overflows here spill at 2.5 times the typical town's rate. Lovely view from the Prospect, mind. It's far enough up that you can't smell it.
Up in town it's charity shops, 7.8 times the typical town's per head, then bookies, then Greggs. The banks have been leaving at 8 times the typical town's rate, so HSBC, Lloyds and Santander are all gone. Some of the kitchens want a look as well. The last bus is at 8.55pm, and the tourists worked out long ago that they should be on it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ross-on-Wye's 78 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 78% of towns.
- Food hygiene78/1005.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 95 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills73/100674 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband57/1005.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.7% across the Herefordshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson45/1006.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour36/10012.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires27/1003.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain26/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution14/1004.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions10/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping9/1004.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Herefordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leominster | 48 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Hereford | 32 |
| 3 | Ross-on-Wye | 20 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ross-on-Wye by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 66.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 148 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 135 per 10,000 people, 39.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 12 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 11) Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 27.3 per 100,000 people, 8x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.5 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.55pm 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%
- 6.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 55% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,577 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Herefordshire council
Have a crap-off
Ross-on-Wye 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.