Crap Towns / Staffordshire / Stone
Stone
13/100Crap Score
853rd crappest of 984 towns, and 14th in Staffordshire. 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 Stone? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Lunch. Big deal round here.
Canal town with a food festival. Lunch is taken very seriously here.
Stone is a smart little canal town on the Trent and Mersey with a whole food and drink festival, and it talks about lunch the way other towns talk about football. Funny, then, that its kitchens come out worse on hygiene than the typical town's. The festival's got some explaining to do.
The storm overflows within a kilometre spilled for 788 hours per 10,000 people a year, nearly three times the typical town, not far from where everyone's photographing their lunch. It pisses down on 142 days a year. On a Sunday the buses barely run, so once the talk turns to sourdough you're walking.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Stone's 77 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Sewage spills77/100788 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene68/1003.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 105 food businesses with a rating
- Rain68/100142 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution44/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband39/1002.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 15.7% across the Stafford council area
- Anti-social behaviour25/10011.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson14/1004.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions9/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires6/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping4/1003.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Stafford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Wombourne | 17 |
| 11 | Uttoxeter | 16 |
| 12 | Tamworth | 15 |
| 13 | Cheadle | 14 |
| 14 | Stone | 13 |
| 15 | Lichfield | 10 |
| 16 | Burntwood | 6 |
| 17 | Cannock | 4 |
| 18 | Rugeley | 2 |
Stone by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 62.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.1
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 10) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 5.8 per 100,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.13pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 24% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,454 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Stafford council
- £2,303 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £89 less than the English average
- 10% of Staffordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Stone 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.