Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Sawbridgeworth
Sawbridgeworth
7/100Crap Score
912th crappest of 984 towns, and 21st in Hertfordshire. 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
The public pool's gone.
Sawbo has old maltings full of antiques. The public swimming pool has shut.
Sawbridgeworth is a nice old town with timber buildings, maltings full of antiques and nearly twice the typical town's pubs for its size. Nothing goes wrong here. Crime's well under the typical town's and the vandals can't be bothered.
The public pool shut for good in 2024, so the big day out is looking at a sideboard you're not going to buy. 3.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband, more than six times the typical town's share, which for a commuter town is about as close to a scandal as it gets. The last train home goes early.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sawbridgeworth's 83 for broadband means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Broadband83/10014.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.0% across the East Hertfordshire council area
- Air pollution64/1008.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour48/10015.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene43/1002.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 51 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires31/1004.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain22/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills11/1009.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping10/1004.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Hertfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions7/1001.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Tring | 19 |
| 18 | Royston | 18 |
| 19 | St Albans | 18 |
| 20 | Ware | 8 |
| 21 | Sawbridgeworth | 7 |
| 22 | Hertford | 7 |
| 23 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley | 7 |
| 24 | Rickmansworth | 4 |
| 25 | Harpenden | 3 |
Sawbridgeworth by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 45.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.7 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.28am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 9.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 38% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,620 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Hertfordshire council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Sawbridgeworth 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.