Thornton

Still going on about that viaduct.

Twinned with a viaduct with no trains

83/100Crap Score

Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 83. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

See the race

The 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 Thornton? Write in.

Get off the pavement.

The old railway makes a better day out than the village it used to serve.

Thornton has a lovely curved viaduct, an old railway trail and a stone Market Street from when it had mills and quarries. Now it's cars parked on the pavements of Thornton Road and serious crashes at well over the typical town's rate. The trains stopped years ago.

There isn't a public park on the map, and 69.6% of the village lives further than 400 metres from a park or play area, so the railway trail's doing the job of one. It pisses down on 158 days a year. The sewers nearby overflow for five and a half times as long as the typical town's, and the old centre's made the Heritage at Risk register. Plenty of pubs to talk it over in.

The editor, who had to walk in the road

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Thornton's 93 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 93% of towns.

Fly-tipping93/10032.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bradford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
Sewage spills90/1001,500 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
Deliberate fires89/10023.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
Serious road collisions86/1004.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
Rain81/100158 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
Criminal damage and arson68/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
Air pollution37/1007.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
Anti-social behaviour35/1008.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 34 food businesses with a rating
Broadband19/1004.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.5% across the Bradford council area

**Your patch: West Yorkshire**Towns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
Pos	Town	National	Score
13	Cleckheaton	99th	90
14	Leeds	106th	89
15	Castleford	115th	88
16	Baildon	163rd	84
–	Thornton	–	83
17	Mirfield	189th	81
18	Bingley	197th	80
19	Liversedge	200th	80
20	Gomersal and Birkenshaw	208th	79

Thornton by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Bradford council

Have a crap-off

Thornton against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

Against

ThorntonCrap Score 83

QueensburyCrap Score 82

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.