Crap Towns / County Durham / Sacriston
Sacriston
63/100Crap Score
Known as Smackriston.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 63. 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
Chips or nowt.
An old pit village where the shops and pubs shut and the takeaways moved in.
Sacriston, or Segga, is an old pit village with the miners' terraces still standing. Fair play to them. The main street is shutters, takeaways, vape shops and bookies, and the village shops and pubs keep closing.
Vandalism is running at more than twice the typical town's rate, and things get set on fire at nearly eight times. The map can't find a public park or a swimming pool, so what grass there is gets set alight. 1 pub left. The sewers nearby overflow for nearly four times as long as the typical town's. Durham's down the road. Most people go.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sacriston's 97 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson97/10016.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires96/10045.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills84/1001,066 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene60/1005.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 19 food businesses with a rating
- Rain60/100134 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour52/10015.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband31/1001.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Serious road collisions16/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution13/1005.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| – | Sacriston | 63 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
| 13 | Billingham | 52 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Egglescliffe | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Sacriston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 3 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 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
- 11.36pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 34.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,502 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Sacriston 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.