Crap Towns / Leicestershire / Thurmaston
Thurmaston
16/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 16. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Thurmaston. Mostly retail parks.
A village split by a bypass, with retail parks on one side and air you can taste.
Thurmaston is an old village on the Soar, with boats and Watermead Country Park, cut off from its newer half by a bypass and smothered in retail parks along Melton Road. The air's mucky, with nitrogen dioxide at 1.7 times the typical town's, so a nice walk round Watermead comes with a side of exhaust.
There's 1 pub. Plenty of places to buy a sofa, nowhere to sit down with a pint. 3 of the 12 rated takeaways score 0 to 2, the swimming pool shut in 2023 and isn't coming back, and the vandals are busier than in the typical town. Nothing comes out of the storm overflows, mind. Small mercies.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Thurmaston's 93 for air pollution means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Air pollution93/10013.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson87/10010.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene80/1006.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 60 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires38/1004.8 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain27/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour19/10010.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions18/1001.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping14/1005.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Charnwood council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband6/1000.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.3% across the Charnwood council area
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Melton Mowbray | 33 |
| 6 | Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe | 32 |
| 7 | Enderby and Narborough | 29 |
| 8 | Whitwick | 27 |
| – | Thurmaston | 16 |
| 9 | Shepshed | 13 |
| 10 | Hinckley | 11 |
| 11 | Mountsorrel | 10 |
| 12 | Earl Shilton | 9 |
Thurmaston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 81.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 7% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 0.9
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 2 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 25.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 12) Worse: 6.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.35pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 16.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 6% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,481 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
Thurmaston 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.