Crap Towns / Cheshire / Runcorn
Runcorn
39/100Crap Score
Scousers call them Woollybacks.
596th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Cheshire. 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 Runcorn? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Runcorn. It's in the name.
A busway, an empty shopping centre, a toll bridge, and kitchens to avoid.
Runcorn built the buses their own road straight into the shopping centre, and then the shops pissed off. Loads of units are empty, the old baths have gone, and crossing the bridge to Widnes costs you a toll, plus a fine if you forget. Widnes got the leisure money. Runcorn got a sitcom about getting pissed.
The fire brigade gets called out to a deliberate fire nearly three times as often as in the typical town, bins mostly, and the storm overflows spill for nearly three times as long. The kitchens are dodgier than most. Locals take the first bit of the name as advice.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Runcorn's 84 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Deliberate fires84/10015.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene77/1004.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 277 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills76/100735 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain75/100151 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution57/1009.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson48/1006.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour43/1009.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband17/1003.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.0% across the Halton council area
- Serious road collisions17/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping4/1003.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Halton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Winsford | 52 |
| 5 | Chester | 49 |
| 6 | Ellesmere Port | 49 |
| 7 | Warrington | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Runcorn | 39 |
| 9 | Middlewich | 39 |
| 10 | Congleton | 33 |
| 11 | Sandbach | 31 |
| 12 | Nantwich | 28 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Runcorn by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 88.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 17% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 23 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.7 per 10,000 people, 9% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 29 pubs, 25 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 9 bookmakers, 4 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 37) Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 3.2 per 100,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 16 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.45am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,451 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Halton council
Have a crap-off
Runcorn 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.