Crap Towns / Greater Manchester / Royton
Royton
86/100Crap Score
136th crappest of 984 towns, and 24th in Greater Manchester. 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
The clock's smaller on the Shaw side.
Built the town hall clock with a smaller face towards Shaw, so Shaw couldn't nick the time.
Royton built its town hall clock with a smaller face on the Shaw side, so the Gawbies couldn't tell the time for free. That's the high point of its history. It had some of the first cotton mills, and Tandle Hill's a cracking walk.
There's rain on 171 days a year and the sun's out for 1,290 hours, so the walk's usually a wet one. Mostly it's people parking across your drive on the school run. Grim enough, and it still looks down on Shaw.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Royton's 93 for rain means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Rain93/100171 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution88/10012.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping86/10022.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Oldham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene74/1004.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 141 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson73/1008.8 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Deliberate fires66/1008.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour61/10016.9 per 1,000 people a year, July 2023 to June 2026
- Sewage spills60/100402 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions51/1002.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband11/1003.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 2.8% across the Oldham council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Stalybridge | 89 |
| 21 | Mossley | 89 |
| 22 | Leigh | 88 |
| 23 | Uppermill | 87 |
| 24 | Royton | 86 |
| 25 | Ince-in-Makerfield | 86 |
| 26 | Bury | 85 |
| 27 | Littleborough | 84 |
| 28 | Chadderton | 84 |
Royton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 102 crimes per 1,000 people a year (July 2023 to June 2026) Worse: 34% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 20 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.7 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 16 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 2 bookmakers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 19) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.57am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 32.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,290 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 16% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Oldham council
Have a crap-off
Royton 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.