Crap Towns / Cornwall / Wadebridge
Wadebridge
33/100Crap Score
Known as Weirdbridge.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 33. 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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A medieval bridge, the Camel Trail, and parking machines that don't bloody work.
Wadebridge has a medieval bridge over the Camel, supposedly built on sacks of wool, and the Camel Trail full of cyclists. The town's mostly fine. The parking isn't. The machines are broken, the app's a faff and the fines on Jubilee Road come thick and fast.
The rain turns up on 164 days a year, so the Camel Trail's mostly wet Lycra. 4.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband, nearly ten times the typical town's share, which makes the parking app even more fun. More vandalism than there should be, too.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wadebridge's 89 for broadband means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Broadband89/10010.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 34.0% across the Cornwall council area
- Rain88/100164 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson83/10010.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions42/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour41/10013.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills38/100152 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene33/1001.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 74 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires29/1003.8 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 pollution6/1003.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | St Austell | 54 |
| 6 | Newquay | 51 |
| 7 | Falmouth | 46 |
| 8 | Camborne | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.9 | Saltash | 38 |
| 10 | Redruth | 33 |
| – | Wadebridge | 33 |
| 11 | Helston | 25 |
| 12 | Penryn | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wadebridge by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 78.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 0.7
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 2 banks 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%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.8 per 100,000 people, 5.2x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 8.9 per 10,000 people, 5.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 3.6 per 10,000 people, 5.1x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.37pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 4.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 9.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,662 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Cornwall council
Have a crap-off
Wadebridge 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.