Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Tring
Tring
19/100Crap Score
Known as Tring-a-ling.
796th crappest of 984 towns, and 17th in Hertfordshire. 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
Somebody drove zebras through it once
A posh little town with a museum of stuffed animals and a station miles away.
Tring is a posh, quiet little town with a museum full of stuffed animals and nice Chiltern walks. Somebody once drove zebras through it. Nothing that exciting has happened since. Its one big problem is that Tring station is miles outside Tring, and the buses to it are hopeless.
On a Sunday the whole town gets 76 bus departures. The broadband's not much quicker: the share that can't get superfast is more than five times the typical town's. For somewhere this well off, Tringites spend a lot of time looking at a loading bar. Deliberate fires are above the typical town's and climbing, which round here counts as a crime wave.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tring's 91 for broadband means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Broadband91/10022.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.7% across the Dacorum council area
- Fly-tipping62/10012.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dacorum council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires60/1007.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution51/1007.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain45/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour38/10013.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene33/1001.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 74 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills7/1002.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions3/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Hoddesdon | 28 |
| 14 | Berkhamsted | 22 |
| 15 | Cheshunt | 21 |
| 16 | Bishop's Stortford | 19 |
| 17 | Tring | 19 |
| 18 | Royston | 18 |
| 19 | St Albans | 18 |
| 20 | Ware | 8 |
| 21 | Sawbridgeworth | 7 |
Tring by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 41.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 46% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 55 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 46.0 per 10,000 people, 13.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 8.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 12) Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.2 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.43pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 5.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,555 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Dacorum council
- £2,409 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £17 more than the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Tring 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.