Crap Towns / Nottinghamshire / Ruddington
Ruddington
3/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 3. 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
It's a village, alright?
More museums than a village needs, more houses than a village has, and a duck mascot.
Ruddington has a framework knitters' museum, a village museum, a transport museum and a duck for a mascot, so it calls itself the Museums Village. It insists it's a village while the houses spread towards Clifton, and everyone lives in fear of waking up one morning as a suburb of Nottingham.
Crime's low, nothing spills into the brook and nearly everyone lives round the corner from a park. So some knobhead keeps setting fire to it. Deliberate fires run 47% above the typical town's, mostly grass and trees, and it's getting worse. The country park used to be an army depot, which is a long way to go for somewhere to walk the dog and not pick up after it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ruddington's 65 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 65% of towns.
- Deliberate fires65/1008.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution56/1008.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband52/1003.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.1% across the Rushcliffe council area
- Fly-tipping32/1008.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rushcliffe council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson26/1005.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain25/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene21/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 49 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour19/10010.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions4/1000.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Mansfield Woodhouse | 55 |
| 14 | Balderton | 54 |
| 15 | New Ollerton and Ollerton | 54 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | Beeston | 35 |
| 17 | West Bridgford | 33 |
| 18 | Arnold | 25 |
| 19 | Carlton | 25 |
| 20 | Bingham | 16 |
| – | Ruddington | 3 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ruddington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 46.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 39% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.7 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.29am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 82% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,509 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Rushcliffe council
- £2,643 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £251 more than the English average
- 19% of Nottinghamshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Ruddington 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.