Crap Towns / Devon / Tavistock
Tavistock
27/100Crap Score
718th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th in Devon. 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 Tavistock? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Goose Fair's not what it was.
A nice old Dartmoor market town where everyone says Goose Fair used to be better.
Tavistock is a handsome market town on the edge of Dartmoor with a Pannier Market and a Goose Fair that everyone agrees used to be better. It's well behaved. The moans are the potholes, people parking in narrow streets and endless rows about double yellow lines.
There's rain on 168 days a year and the storm overflows go off for nearly seven times the typical town's hours. West Devon charges £2,705 for a Band D home. It's Plymouth's idea of a day out.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tavistock's 92 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Sewage spills92/1001,846 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband91/10012.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 35.8% across the West Devon council area
- Rain91/100168 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires44/1005.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson38/1006.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions32/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene24/1001.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 96 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping18/1005.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Devon council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour10/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution4/1003.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Bideford | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Newton Abbot | 39 |
| 9 | Honiton | 37 |
| 10 | Dawlish | 31 |
| 11 | Tavistock | 27 |
| 12 | Kingsteignton | 26 |
| 13 | Teignmouth | 24 |
| 14 | Brixham | 23 |
| 15 | Ivybridge | 18 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Tavistock by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 53% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 15.8 per 100,000 people, 4.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.4 per 10,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 3.2 per 10,000 people, 4.6x the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.37pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 9.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,511 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
West Devon council
Have a crap-off
Tavistock 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.