Crap Towns / Wiltshire / Trowbridge
Trowbridge
41/100Crap Score
Known as Trownobyl.
578th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in Wiltshire. 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 Trowbridge? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Trowbridge. The county town. Honest.
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire. Nobody believes it, and locals call it Trowvegas.
Trowbridge is Wiltshire's county town, and has to keep telling people. It made woollen cloth and has the old mills to show for it. The museum is inside a shopping centre. The town centre is tired and full of empty shops, the buses from the villages are patchy and every village round about is prettier.
The anti-social behaviour's worse than most, so at least something's happening. Locals call it Trowkyo. Nobody else does.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Trowbridge's 78 for broadband means it's crapper than 78% of towns.
- Broadband78/1008.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.1% across the Wiltshire council area
- Anti-social behaviour78/10021.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson57/1007.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene56/1002.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 140 food businesses with a rating
- Rain54/100130 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires42/1005.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills35/100127 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions26/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution26/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping21/1005.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wiltshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salisbury | 56 |
| 2 | Devizes | 49 |
| 3 | Melksham | 48 |
| 4 | Swindon | 43 |
| 5 | Trowbridge | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Warminster | 30 |
| 7 | Chippenham | 29 |
| 8 | Calne | 24 |
| 9 | Westbury | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Trowbridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 70.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 7% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 59% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 18 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 9 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 6 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 29) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 4.6 per 100,000 people, 35% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 29% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.12am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 27% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,623 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 6% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Wiltshire council
Have a crap-off
Trowbridge 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.