Crap Towns / Shropshire / Telford
Telford
59/100Crap Score
People from here are Telfordians.
408th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Shropshire. 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 Telford? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Can't find the way out.
A new town glued round some old ones, with a roundabout at every join.
Telford was a new town stuck together out of a load of old pit and iron towns, and the glue is roundabouts. Lots of them. The Wrekin's nice, Ironbridge is round the corner and Town Park is huge. Then there's everything else.
Telford and Wrekin's fly-tippers dump at 2.6 times the typical council's rate, mostly on the council's own land. The town's had 16 serious pollution incidents since 2016, and a fair few of them were the landfill making itself known. Even the Severn at Ironbridge, the bit on all the postcards, was rated Poor for bathing. It's the crappest town in Shropshire, and Shrewsbury will never let it forget it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Telford's 91 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Fly-tipping91/10028.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Telford and Wrekin council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene83/1004.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 697 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband66/1009.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.9% across the Telford and Wrekin council area
- Rain63/100136 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson54/1007.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour51/10015.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires43/1005.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills27/10080.9 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution27/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions20/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Telford | 59 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Shrewsbury | 39 |
| 3 | Newport | 29 |
| 4 | Oswestry | 28 |
| 5 | Bridgnorth | 23 |
| 6 | Ludlow | 19 |
| 7 | Market Drayton | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Telford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 88.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 93 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.9 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 16 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
- Poor River Severn at Ironbridge's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 94 pubs, 35 hairdressers, 17 charity shops, 8 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 11 banks, 10 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (5 of 127) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 1.3 per 100,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 45 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.9 per 10,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 10 public swimming pools open; 3 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 4 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.57pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 4.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 69% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,443 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Telford and Wrekin council
- £2,256 Band D council tax (2026-27) Better: £136 less than the English average
- 5% of Telford and Wrekin council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 69% lower than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Telford 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.