Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Thrapston
Thrapston
16/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 16. 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 Thrapston? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Fair once a year. Lorries all year.
A fair on the High Street every year. Lorries on it the rest of the time.
Thrapston is annoyingly decent. An old bridge over the Nene, the Charter Fair taking over the High Street once a year, hardly any crime and a park or play space within a short walk of every house in town. It's got one Greggs, which works out at nearly five times the typical town's per head. Spoilt, frankly.
The catch is underneath. The overflows within a kilometre spilled for 961 hours per 10,000 people a year, three and a half times the typical town, so the Town Walk along the old railway is lovely as long as you don't look in the river. And once the fair's packed up, the buses after 7pm on a Wednesday can be counted on one hand. On a Sunday there aren't any.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Thrapston's 82 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Sewage spills82/100961 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution64/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene52/1002.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 37 food businesses with a rating
- Rain19/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband17/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
- Anti-social behaviour12/1008.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions9/1001.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson3/1003.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires0/1000.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
| 10 | Desborough | 21 |
| – | Thrapston | 16 |
| 11 | Brackley | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Thrapston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 37.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 51% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 71 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 98.0 per 10,000 people, 28.8x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 2.8 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.02am last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,568 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Thrapston 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.