Crap Towns / Cambridgeshire / Soham
Soham
14/100Crap Score
846th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th in Cambridgeshire. 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
Soham. Change at Ely.
They reopened the station. Getting to Cambridge still means a change and a long wait.
Soham's a quiet Fen town with horses grazing on the commons and hardly any crime. They reopened the station, but getting to Cambridge still means changing at Ely, and Ely looks close enough to cycle to until you try that road.
The last bus is at 7.36pm and there's none on a Sunday. No public pool either. The kitchens are the surprise: 5.6% of food businesses score 0 to 2, more than twice the typical town. Flat, quiet and a faff to get out of.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Soham's 75 for broadband means it's crapper than 75% of towns.
- Broadband75/10012.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.9% across the East Cambridgeshire council area
- Food hygiene74/1005.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 54 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour41/10013.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills41/100182 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution36/1005.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires36/100
- Criminal damage and arson17/1004.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping13/1005.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Cambridgeshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain10/100113 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions7/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Cambridge | 63 |
| 5 | St Ives | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Chatteris | 29 |
| 7 | March | 28 |
| 8 | Ely | 24 |
| 9 | St Neots | 18 |
| 10 | Whittlesey | 17 |
| 11 | Soham | 14 |
| 12 | Cambourne | 1 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Soham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 44.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 42% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.5 per 10,000 people, 7.7x the typical town's 1.1
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 8 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 7.36pm 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%
- 4.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 68% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,571 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
East Cambridgeshire council
- £2,485 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £93 more than the English average
- 7% of Cambridgeshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 56% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Soham 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.