Crap Towns / Isle of Wight / Sandown
Sandown
65/100Crap Score
345th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in the Isle of Wight. 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
Don't look at the hotels
The beach is great. Behind it is a row of hotels that gave up years ago.
Sandown has a long sandy beach and an old-fashioned pier, and if you keep looking at the sea it's lovely. Turn round and it's derelict hotels rotting on the seafront, boarded-up shops on the High Street and a regeneration that never arrives. The empty hotels keep going up in flames, and fires get started on purpose at 2.4 times the typical town's rate. Funny that.
So face the sea. Except the storm overflows round Sandown went off for over nine times the typical town's hours, so the sea's had the sewage. There are 1,926 hours of sun a year. Lovely weather for it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sandown's 96 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Sewage spills96/1002,534 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Deliberate fires80/10013.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions79/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson79/1009.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour56/10016.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband56/1007.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.0% across the Isle of Wight council area
- Food hygiene37/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 113 food businesses with a rating
- Rain35/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping20/1006.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Isle of Wight council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution16/1005.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newport | 65 |
| 2 | Sandown | 65 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.3 | Ryde | 37 |
| 4 | Cowes | 20 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Sandown by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 100 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 31% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 474 reports of dog fouling on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
- 2 of 3 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 11) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.13am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 28.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,926 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 26% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Isle of Wight council
Have a crap-off
Sandown 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.