Crap Towns / Dorset / Sherborne
Sherborne
19/100Crap Score
793rd crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Dorset. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Taxi to Yeovil, please.
Castles, an abbey and boarding schools. For a night out or a proper supermarket, it's Yeovil.
Sherborne has an abbey, a ruined castle, a newer castle with a lake and a lot of boarding schools. Very posh, very pretty and very quiet. For a night out you need a taxi to Yeovil that costs a fortune, and for a decent supermarket you go to Yeovil as well.
The last bus goes at 8.51pm and there's nothing at all on a Sunday, so it's the taxi or nothing. Dorset charges £2,765 for a Band D home for the privilege. That's how bad it is. Yeovil.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sherborne's 77 for broadband means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Broadband77/1008.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.3% across the Dorset council area
- Sewage spills76/100752 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain54/100130 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour53/10015.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions43/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution17/1005.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson13/1004.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires11/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping8/1004.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dorset council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene8/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 89 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Weymouth | 37 |
| 5 | Dorchester | 33 |
| 6 | Christchurch | 22 |
| 7 | West Moors | 20 |
| 8 | Sherborne | 19 |
| 9 | Wimborne Minster | 19 |
| 10 | Corfe Mullen | 14 |
| 11 | Ferndown | 10 |
| 12 | Blandford Forum | 8 |
Sherborne by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 42.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.8 per 10,000 people, 41% higher than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 9.7 per 100,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.51pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 86% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,609 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Dorset council
Have a crap-off
Sherborne 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.