Crap Towns / Mid Glamorgan / Tonyrefail
Tonyrefail
44/100Crap Score
551st crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Mid Glamorgan. 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 Tonyrefail? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Ton of Rubble, say the locals
Old pit town where it never stops raining and everyone parks on the pavement.
Tonyrefail is an old pit town in the valleys with nowhere to park, so everyone parks on the pavement on Mill Street and you walk in the road. That's the big local moan. Outsiders say Tony-ree-fail. Locals call it Ton of Rubble.
The rain turns up on 180 days a year, two and a half times the typical town's rainfall, and the sewers spill more than most. There's 1 pub on the map, for the whole of Ton. Otherwise it's well behaved, with hardly any trouble or crashes.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tonyrefail's 98 for rain means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Rain98/100180 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills89/1001,447 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping71/10015.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rhondda Cynon Taf council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband68/1007.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 18.6% across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area
- Food hygiene64/1004.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Criminal damage and arson38/1006.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour14/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution14/1005.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions1/1000.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Pontypridd | 57 |
| 6 | Maesteg | 53 |
| 7 | Tonypandy | 52 |
| 8 | Mountain Ash | 49 |
| 9 | Tonyrefail | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Church Village | 35 |
| 11 | Bridgend | 32 |
| 12 | Pyle | 25 |
| 13 | Sarn | 10 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Tonyrefail by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.5 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.35pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 84% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,493 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Rhondda Cynon Taf council
Have a crap-off
Tonyrefail 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.