Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Shipley
Shipley
97/100Crap Score
27th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in West 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
Yes, it's Bradford.
A triangle-shaped station, a lot of concrete and a row about whether it's Bradford.
Shipley's got a clock tower, a triangle-shaped station and a shitload of concrete. The big roads carve up the middle, Fox Corner jams solid and you wait forever at the crossings. Locals say it isn't Bradford. It is.
Burglary runs at two and a half times the typical town's rate, and the bins go up in flames at about seven times. Halifax and NatWest have both shut, and even the Wrose Book Exchange went in 2022. The sun manages 1,325 hours a year. Bradford's only just crapper. Told you it was Bradford.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Shipley's 93 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Fly-tipping93/10032.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bradford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires92/10023.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions88/1003.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills83/100977 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson81/1009.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour79/10014.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution73/10011.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain67/100140 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene48/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 211 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband24/1005.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.5% across the Bradford council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keighley | 99 |
| 2 | Bradford | 99 |
| 3 | Dewsbury | 98 |
| 4 | Shipley | 97 |
| 5 | Halifax | 97 |
| 6 | Heckmondwike | 95 |
| 7 | Huddersfield | 95 |
| 8 | Elland | 94 |
| 9 | Batley | 94 |
Shipley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 118 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 59% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 25 pubs, 28 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 33) Better: 25% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 6.8 per 100,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Wrose Book Exchange (2022)
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.40pm 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%
- 17.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 13% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,325 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 14% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Bradford council
- £2,361 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £31 less than the English average
- 13% of Bradford council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 27 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Shipley 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.