Crap Towns / Cornwall / Truro
Truro
76/100Crap Score
Locals call it Truzza.
240th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in Cornwall. 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 Truro? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
A city full of empty shops.
Cornwall's city, with a cathedral, a big theatre and a lot of charity shops and vape shops.
Truro is Cornwall's only city and its main shopping town, which is a problem when the shops keep shutting. The independents are going and the gaps fill with chains, charity shops and vape shops, so it looks like everywhere else. It's also got more anti-social behaviour and vandalism than you'd think for somewhere with a cathedral.
It comes out the crappest town in Cornwall, ahead of Penzance, which for a city with a cathedral is going some. Superfast broadband misses 4.1% of premises, over eight times the typical town's share. Truzza. Lovely.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Truro's 97 for broadband means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Broadband97/10025.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Anti-social behaviour90/10027.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain81/100157 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions75/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills61/100425 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene60/1003.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 198 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires21/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping16/1005.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cornwall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution10/1004.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Truro | 76 |
| 2 | Penzance | 71 |
| 3 | Bodmin | 60 |
| 4 | Liskeard | 58 |
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Saltash | 38 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Truro by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 107 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 40% higher than 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 Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 12 pubs, 31 hairdressers, 15 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 9 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 21) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 4.3 per 100,000 people, 26% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 9 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.9 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 5 public swimming pools open Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 3.1x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.47pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 4.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 8.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 12.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 22% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,603 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Truro 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.