Crap Towns / Dumfries and Galloway / Stranraer
Stranraer
73/100Crap Score
Locals are Clayholers.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 73. 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
Stranraer. End of the line.
The ferries moved up Loch Ryan to Cairnryan and took the town's reason for being there with them.
Stranraer was the ferry port for Northern Ireland until the ferries moved up the loch to Cairnryan, and the lorries and the passing trade went with them. The trains still run to the old pier, where there isn't a boat. The town's been waiting for someone to think of a use for it ever since. Meanwhile it has 23 hairdressers. Nobody's going anywhere, but they'll look tidy.
The bampots are busy. Anti-social behaviour runs at nearly three times the typical Scottish town's rate and crime at 1.5 times, and the sewage spills came in at two and a half times the typical town's in 2025. The rain comes in off Loch Ryan on 169 days a year. The Clayholers would like you to know about the oyster festival.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Stranraer's 99 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour99/10022.7 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Rain91/100169 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband90/10012.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 33.1% across the Dumfries and Galloway council area
- Sewage spills73/100677 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Criminal damage and arson71/1008.8 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Serious road collisions44/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene41/1004.2% told to improve, of the 72 food businesses inspected
- Deliberate fires13/1007.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution0/1002.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dumfries | 87 |
| – | Stranraer | 73 |
Stranraer by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 83.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 1.5x the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 118 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 121 per 10,000 people, 21.6x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 10.3 per 100,000 people, 3x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.1 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.33pm last bus out on a Wednesday 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%
- 4.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 74% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,406 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Dumfries and Galloway council
- £1,579 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £74 less than the Scottish average
- 57% of Dumfries and Galloway council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 1.6x Scotland's 36%
- 38 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, 1 upheld Better: 26.1 per 100,000 residents, 25% lower than Scotland's 34.7
- 98.4% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) Better: 7% higher than Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Stranraer 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.