Crap Towns / Nottinghamshire / Sutton in Ashfield
Sutton in Ashfield
90/100Crap Score
Locals call it Sinna.
98th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Nottinghamshire. 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 Sutton in Ashfield? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
A sundial. Here. Really?
They built a giant sundial, then scrapped it. The rest of the town is the same.
Sutton in Ashfield built a giant sundial in Portland Square and then scrapped it, and Sinna still argues about whether a sundial was ever going to work somewhere this cloudy. This was a town that made watches. Old pit and hosiery town as well. You can tell.
The shops are vape shops, charity shops, barbers and nail bars, and eating out is a gamble. Bad hygiene ratings turn up two and a half times as often as in the typical town. The shoplifters and the vandals are both flat out. Even the Market Place is on the Heritage at Risk list, so the one bit of town that's meant to be nice is officially falling to bits too.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sutton in Ashfield's 90 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Food hygiene90/1006.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 264 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions87/1003.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson86/10010.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution83/10010.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour80/10021.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills76/100745 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires63/1007.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain53/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping37/1008.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Ashfield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband6/1002.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.0% across the Ashfield council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newark-on-Trent | 95 |
| 2 | Nottingham | 93 |
| 3 | Mansfield | 93 |
| 4 | Sutton in Ashfield | 90 |
| 5 | Worksop | 78 |
| 6 | Clifton | 75 |
| 7 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield | 74 |
| 8 | Stapleford | 71 |
| 9 | Eastwood | 67 |
Sutton in Ashfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 105 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 38% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 16 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical town's 1.1
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 22 pubs, 34 hairdressers, 14 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 7 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 10.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 38) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.7 per 100,000 people, 21% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.49am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 14.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space About the same: About the same as the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,470 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Ashfield council
- £2,609 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £217 more than the English average
- 19% of Nottinghamshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Sutton in Ashfield 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.