Crap Towns / Lincolnshire / Sleaford
Sleaford
45/100Crap Score
People from here are Sleafordians.
539th crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in Lincolnshire. 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
Got something to say about Sleaford? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Empty maltings, angry queue.
A giant empty maltings, a level crossing that's always down and a lot of people kicking off.
Sleaford has a giant empty maltings, a lovely old watermill and a level crossing in the middle of town that's always down. The high street shops keep shutting and the new estates keep coming. Some locals call it Sleazeford. Others call it Sleahole. That's the locals, before Grantham's even had a go.
Banks have announced 4 branch closures here since 2022, 6.5 times the typical town's rate, and the town got a banking hub instead. Anti-social behaviour is up at 1.7 times the typical town's. There's 1 hairdresser for the whole town, so the hair's a state as well. On a Sunday the whole of Sleaford gets 24 buses.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sleaford's 86 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour86/10024.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills70/100621 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions63/1002.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband59/1005.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.1% across the North Kesteven council area
- Criminal damage and arson48/1006.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution36/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping32/1008.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Kesteven council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene16/1000.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 122 food businesses with a rating
- Rain11/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires7/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Cleethorpes | 68 |
| 9 | Spalding | 64 |
| 10 | Grantham | 53 |
| 11 | Stamford | 46 |
| 12 | Sleaford | 45 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Humberston and New Waltham | 32 |
| 14 | Barton-upon-Humber | 32 |
| 15 | Bourne | 15 |
| 16 | North Hykeham | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Sleaford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 83.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 9% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 490 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 272 per 10,000 people, 80x 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
- 8 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 16) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 22.2 per 100,000 people, 6.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 38% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.34pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 7% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,627 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
North Kesteven council
- £2,338 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £54 less than the English average
- 21% of Lincolnshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 31% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Sleaford 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.