Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Selby
Selby
51/100Crap Score
481st crappest of 984 towns, and 11th in North Yorkshire. 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
Pubs, shops, then home.
Selby used to launch ships sideways into the river. These days there's nothing to launch.
Selby used to build ships and chuck them sideways into the Ouse. The shipyard went, the pits went, and now there's sod all to do but the pub or the shops. Locals still call it the Toll Bridge, even though it hasn't charged anyone for years. And the river floods.
Anti-social behaviour is up at more than twice the typical town's rate, and bike theft at over three times. Barclays and Lloyds have both shut, and buses leave after 7pm about a fifth as often as the typical town's. A major pollution incident put kerosene in the water in 2022. The Ouse has had a lot chucked in it over the years.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Selby's 96 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour96/10033.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires75/10011.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills67/100532 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions55/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson52/1007.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution44/1007.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband39/1001.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Food hygiene29/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 30 food businesses with a rating
- Rain17/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Redcar | 71 |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
| 9 | Whitby | 64 |
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Selby by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 96.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.6 per 10,000 people, 35% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 10.3 per 100,000 people, 3x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.53pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,413 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Yorkshire council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 18% of North Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 41 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Selby 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.