Crap Towns / West Midlands / Solihull
Solihull
30/100Crap Score
694th crappest of 984 towns, and 25th in the West Midlands. 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
Check the postcode, love
Posh, leafy and very touchy about its Birmingham postcode.
Solihull is the posh bit next to Birmingham and will correct you the moment you say Birmingham. Solihullactually. It makes Land Rovers, has almost no trouble and has cafes that shut before teatime. And the postcode starts with a B. For Birmingham.
For somewhere this leafy, getting to a bit of green is a trek: nearly two thirds of the town lives more than 400 metres from a park or a swing, and Malvern and Brueton are lovely for whoever lives next to them. The air is dirtier than the typical town's, the shoplifting is way above it, and 12.2% of rated takeaways score 0 to 2, 3.1 times the typical town's share. The posh address is doing a lot of work.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Solihull's 85 for air pollution means it's crapper than 85% of towns.
- Air pollution85/10012.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping76/10017.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Solihull council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene76/1003.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 480 food businesses with a rating
- Rain59/100133 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions36/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson28/1005.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills15/10023.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires9/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour9/1005.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband7/1001.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.6% across the Solihull council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Stourbridge | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.22 | Royal Sutton Coldfield | 36 |
| 23 | Aldridge | 36 |
| 24 | Coseley | 35 |
| 25 | Solihull | 30 |
| 26 | Sedgley | 24 |
| 27 | Kingswinford | 19 |
| 28 | Streetly | 16 |
| 29 | Knowle and Dorridge | 15 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Solihull by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 81.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 128 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 11.9 per 10,000 people, 3.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 8 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 32 pubs, 53 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 16 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 12.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (6 of 49) Worse: 3.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 6 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 5.6 per 100,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 13 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 15 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.48am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 62.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 4x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,508 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Solihull council
Have a crap-off
Solihull 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.