Crap Towns / Highland / Thurso
Thurso
38/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 38. 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
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agree it's crap have defended it
As far as you can go. Then stop.
The top of mainland Britain, a nuclear plant being taken to bits down the road and no bus after teatime.
Thurso is the most northerly town on the British mainland, and it feels it. Rain on 188 days a year, and the last bus leaves at 5.46pm. On a Sunday there isn't one. Dounreay kept the place going for decades, and now they're paying folk to take it apart.
The sewage overflows spill at more than four times the typical town's rate, and the surfers at Thurso East paddle out into it regardless. Thurso folk call Wick the Dirty Weekers, which is rich from a town whose own centre needs weeding.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Thurso's 99 for rain means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Rain99/100188 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills86/1001,186 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Food hygiene82/10011.8% told to improve, of the 85 food businesses inspected
- Broadband75/1000.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 36.7% across the Highland council area
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Criminal damage and arson49/1007.0 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Anti-social behaviour18/1005.3 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Deliberate fires3/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions3/1000.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution0/1001.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inverness | 66 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.– | Thurso | 38 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Thurso by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 35.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Better: 34% lower than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 55 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 74.1 per 10,000 people, 13.2x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
- Good Thurso's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 3 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.7 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 5.46pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 1.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 88% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,308 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 15% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Highland council
- £1,634 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £19 less than the Scottish average
- 43% of Highland council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than Scotland's 36%
- 99 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Worse: 42.1 per 100,000 residents, 21% higher than Scotland's 34.7
- 95.3% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Thurso 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.