Crap Towns / Leicestershire / Syston
Syston
1/100Crap Score
971st crappest of 984 towns, and 15th in Leicestershire. 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
Syston. Nothing to see.
Syston has a white plum on its welcome sign. It's a quiet commuter town for Leicester.
Syston puts a white plum on its welcome signs, which is about as exciting as it gets. It's a quiet commuter town on the Fosse Way with clean kitchens, nobody crashing and hardly any fly-tipping. The only moan locals could come up with is some bother round Town Square. The one thing actually wrong with the place is the air, which is mucky enough to go over the health guidelines. We tried, honestly.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Syston's 87 for air pollution means it's crapper than 87% of towns.
- Air pollution87/10011.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills38/100154 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson35/1005.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires24/1003.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain20/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband19/1003.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.3% across the Charnwood council area
- Anti-social behaviour16/1009.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping14/1005.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Charnwood council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene9/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 81 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions0/1000.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Mountsorrel | 10 |
| 12 | Earl Shilton | 9 |
| 13 | Ashby-de-la-Zouch | 7 |
| 14 | Lutterworth | 2 |
| 15 | Syston | 1 |
| 16 | Market Harborough | 1 |
| 17 | Wigston | 1 |
| 18 | Birstall | 1 |
| 19 | Oadby | 0 |
Syston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 18 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 13.2 per 10,000 people, 3.9x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop 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 banking hub opened here
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 56% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.41pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 43% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,496 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Charnwood council
- £2,406 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £14 more than the English average
- 11% of Leicestershire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 31% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Syston 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.