Crap Towns / Cheshire / Sandbach
Sandbach
31/100Crap Score
684th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th 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 Sandbach? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
The station's in Elworth.
Sandbach built lorries and has a cobbled square. Its station is in another village.
Sandbach made lorries and still has a transport festival and brass bands to show for it. The market square's cobbled, the station's out in Elworth and the pavements round Hightown are too narrow for a pram. Even the trains won't come into town.
The high street's hairdressers, charity shops, vape shops and pubs, more of every one per head than most towns. The banks have announced two closures since 2022, more than five times the typical town's rate, and there's one bank left. You can get a haircut on every corner. You just can't get the cash out to pay for it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sandbach's 72 for rain means it's crapper than 72% of towns.
- Rain72/100148 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband71/1009.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.3% across the Cheshire East council area
- Sewage spills71/100632 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution46/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping43/10010.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cheshire East council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene35/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 68 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions31/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour26/1007.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires19/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson15/1004.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 13 | Neston | 28 |
| 14 | Alsager | 22 |
| 15 | Lymm | 21 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Sandbach by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 67.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 11% 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 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 vape shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 13) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 17.7 per 100,000 people, 5.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.7 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.39pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,473 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Cheshire East council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 more than the English average
- 17% of Cheshire East council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 6% higher than England's 16%
- 33 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Sandbach 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.