Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / South Kirkby
South Kirkby
62/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 62. 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
Duck.
An old pit town where some idiots chuck things at passing buses.
South Kirkby lost its colliery, kept the football club named after it, and still scraps with South Elmsall and Hemsworth over the football. Lately some local idiots have taken to chucking stuff at cars and buses. Great plan, lads, that's the bus service gone. Never a copper about.
The bins go up in flames at over eleven times the typical town's rate, and burglary's twice the typical town's. The library went in 2011, and there's no public park on the map and no swimming pool. The storm overflows barely spill at all, to be fair, so the river's in better shape than the bus shelters. There's 8 pubs, plenty for arguing about Emsull.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
South Kirkby's 94 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Deliberate fires94/10033.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson84/10010.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping75/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wakefield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions70/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution57/1008.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour55/10010.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene50/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 40 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband21/1004.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Wakefield council area
- Rain14/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills6/1001.5 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Brighouse | 66 |
| 26 | Morley | 66 |
| 27 | East Ardsley | 63 |
| 28 | Ossett | 62 |
| – | South Kirkby | 62 |
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
| 31 | Otley | 55 |
| 32 | Ilkley | 48 |
South Kirkby by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 120 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 7 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 7.9 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 12) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: South Kirkby (2011)
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.43pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,488 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Wakefield council
- £2,297 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 less than the English average
- 19% of Wakefield council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
South Kirkby 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.