Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Towcester
Towcester
31/100Crap Score
680th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Northamptonshire. 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 Towcester? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Said Toaster. Yes, we've heard.
A racecourse, a Roman road and lorries going down the middle of town.
Towcester is pronounced Toaster, and everyone's made the joke, so we won't. It's an old Roman town on Watling Street and the lorries still use it, right through the middle, a couple of thousand years on. There's a racecourse and a fair few bookies, so at least there's somewhere to lose money while you wait to cross the road.
The council doesn't help. West Northamptonshire's patch gets fly-tipped at nearly four times the typical council's rate, and the ombudsman keeps finding against it. The storm overflows round town spilled for 1,297 hours per 10,000 people a year, nearly five times the typical town. Lovely castle mound, if you can get across to it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Towcester's 96 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Fly-tipping96/10042.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills87/1001,297 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour41/10013.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution39/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain29/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband24/1004.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.7% across the West Northamptonshire council area
- Food hygiene20/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 51 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires11/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson9/1003.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions9/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 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 |
| 11 | Brackley | 13 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Towcester by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 45.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 384 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 339 per 10,000 people, 99.7x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 2 bookmakers, 2 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.33pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,556 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
West Northamptonshire council
- £2,487 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 more than the English average
- 13% of West Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 45 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Towcester 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.