Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Ware
Ware
8/100Crap Score
909th crappest of 984 towns, and 20th 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
Got something to say about Ware? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Nothing much wrong with it.
Clean, quiet, tidy and famous for a bed. Hertford gets the night out.
Ware is famous for a giant old bed, riverside gazebos and making malt for London's brewers. Tell anyone where you live and you'll get the joke. Where? Ware. They've heard it.
It's clean and tidy, bar a bit of aggro, and the only real moans are slow trains to London and the fact that Hertford, next door, has all the nightlife. Ware has 7 banks, more than four times the typical town's per head, and not one has shut since 2022. And 1 public toilet. Seven places to get a mortgage and one place to have a wee.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ware's 77 for air pollution means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Air pollution77/10010.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband64/1007.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.0% across the East Hertfordshire council area
- Anti-social behaviour59/10016.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires42/1005.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson22/1005.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions21/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene16/1000.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 121 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping10/1004.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, East Hertfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain6/100111 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Bishop's Stortford | 19 |
| 17 | Tring | 19 |
| 18 | Royston | 18 |
| 19 | St Albans | 18 |
| 20 | Ware | 8 |
| 21 | Sawbridgeworth | 7 |
| 22 | Hertford | 7 |
| 23 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley | 7 |
| 24 | Rickmansworth | 4 |
Ware by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 52.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 31% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 11 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.6 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 7 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 18) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 banking hub opened here
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.5 per 10,000 people, 69% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.26pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 26.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,611 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
East Hertfordshire council
- £2,455 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £63 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%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Ware 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.