Crap Towns / Clwyd / Ruthin
Ruthin
74/100Crap Score
People from here are Cats. Denbigh are the Black Dogs.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 74. 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 Ruthin? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Which way's the one-way this week?
An old gaol, a craft centre and empty shops on Well Street. The Cats still look down on Denbigh.
Ruthin has a gaol, a craft centre and a hilly old market square, and the council can't leave it alone. Parking charges, lost spaces and a one-way system everyone hates. Well Street has empty shops and the rest is vape shops, charity shops and Greggs, with six times the typical town's vape shops per head.
Gigabit's on offer to 54.8% of premises and there's no park on the map. The storm drains chuck out sewage for over eight times as long as the typical town's. The Cats still look down on Denbigh. Denbigh's not that impressed.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ruthin's 99 for broadband means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Broadband99/10045.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.2% across the Denbighshire council area
- Sewage spills95/1002,296 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping82/10019.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Denbighshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain69/100143 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene59/1003.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 59 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour57/10016.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Serious road collisions39/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson32/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution5/1003.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhyl | 94 |
| 2 | Llandudno | 87 |
| 3 | Colwyn Bay | 78 |
| – | Ruthin | 74 |
| 4 | Prestatyn | 71 |
| 5 | Wrexham | 66 |
| 6 | Flint | 63 |
| 7 | Rhosllannerchrugog | 54 |
| 8 | Connah's Quay | 52 |
Ruthin by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 65.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 14% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.5 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.3 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.55pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 3.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 6.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,384 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 10% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Denbighshire council
Have a crap-off
Ruthin 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.