Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Rushden
Rushden
47/100Crap Score
Known as Roughdon.
521st crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in Northamptonshire. 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
No station, no High Street, big queue
The shoppers have all buggered off to the retail park by the lakes. The High Street noticed.
Rushden made boots and shoes. Now everyone drives to the shopping park by the lakes, and the High Street is shutting up one unit at a time. There's no mainline station, so it's the car or nothing, and at weekends the queue for the Lakes runs back through town. Locals call it Roughdon.
The figures back them up. Anti-social behaviour is running at 1.6 times the typical town's, shoplifting's way above it, and the fire brigade gets called to deliberate fires at 2.6 times the typical town's rate, most of them out in the open. 13 serious pollution incidents have been logged in or near Rushden since 2016, and flies turned up in 6 of them. The Diamonds fans still have Kettering to hate, at least.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rushden's 82 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Deliberate fires82/10014.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour81/10022.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution64/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills60/100412 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson54/1007.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene32/1001.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 177 food businesses with a rating
- Rain23/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband8/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
- Serious road collisions8/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Daventry | 75 |
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
| 10 | Desborough | 21 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Rushden by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 82.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 820 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 259 per 10,000 people, 76.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 13 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 27 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 3 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 25) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 3.2 per 100,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.5 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.29pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 39% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,554 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rushden 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.