Crap Towns / Greater London / Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets
96/100Crap Score
39th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Greater London. 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
Nobody says they live in Tower Hamlets.
Everyone here lives in Bow or Bethnal Green. Ask them about the council and suddenly it's Tower Hamlets.
Nobody lives in Tower Hamlets. They live in Bow, or Betty G, or on the Island, or in Canary Wharf if the estate agent's doing the talking, and Canary Wharf keeps creeping further into Poplar. The glass towers go dead at the weekend. Vicky Park's lovely, which is exactly why nobody admits it's in Tower Hamlets.
The air's foul, with nitrogen dioxide at nearly three times the typical town's, and half of east London queueing for the Blackwall Tunnel in it. Theft from the person is off the scale. Everyone on Brick Lane holds their phone like it owes them money.
The council recycles 17% of the household rubbish, and the fly-tippers leave the rest on the footpaths at nearly three times the typical council's rate. The council tax is nearly a quarter below England's average, so at least the mess comes cheap.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tower Hamlets's 99 for air pollution means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Air pollution99/10023.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 9.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour97/10036.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions97/1005.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene95/1006.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 2,587 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping92/10030.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tower Hamlets council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband78/10013.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Tower Hamlets council area
- Deliberate fires58/100
- Criminal damage and arson45/1006.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills13/10014.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain6/100111 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | City of London | 100 |
| 2 | Westminster | 100 |
| 3 | Camden | 97 |
| 4 | Tower Hamlets | 96 |
| 5 | Lambeth | 95 |
| 6 | Haringey | 92 |
| 7 | Hackney | 92 |
| 8 | Brent | 91 |
| 9 | Hillingdon | 91 |
Tower Hamlets by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 119 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 16 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 85% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 128 pubs, 146 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 37 bookmakers, 12 vape shops, 22 banks, 7 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (19 of 290) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 7 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 2.3 per 100,000 people, 32% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 136 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.4 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 15 public swimming pools open; 5 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 29 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.59am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 3.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 99% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,548 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Tower Hamlets council
Have a crap-off
Tower Hamlets 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.