Crap Towns / Clwyd / Shotton
Shotton
87/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 87. 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
There's not much left.
The steelworks made the town. The High Street's now vape shops, bookies and roadworks.
Shotton grew up round the steelworks, and Hawarden Bridge is still a proper bit of engineering. The High Street, not so much. It's vape shops, bookies and charity shops, and the old bustle has gone. Lloyds and NatWest have shut.
The storm drains chuck out sewage for nearly 22 times as long as the typical town's, so the Dee's getting it. Anti-social behaviour is running at over twice the typical town's rate and shoplifting at three times. For a little town it's a lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Shotton's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1005,982 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour94/10030.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson86/10010.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions69/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain67/100139 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene64/1004.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Fly-tipping44/10010.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Flintshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution31/1007.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband20/1001.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.2% across the Flintshire council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhyl | 94 |
| 2 | Llandudno | 87 |
| – | Shotton | 87 |
| 3 | Colwyn Bay | 78 |
| 4 | Prestatyn | 71 |
| 5 | Wrexham | 66 |
| 6 | Flint | 63 |
| 7 | Rhosllannerchrugog | 54 |
| 8 | Connah's Quay | 52 |
Shotton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 123 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 9.2 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 30.8 per 100,000 people, 9.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.26pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,468 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Flintshire council
Have a crap-off
Shotton 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.