Crap Towns / Dorset / Wareham
Wareham
22/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 22. 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 Wareham? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
The river's called the Piddle. Really.
A pretty Saxon town between the Frome and the Piddle. The Piddle is a real river.
Wareham's got Saxon walls round it and sits on a river called the Piddle. That's the highlight. The quay's lovely and the pubs are good. The level crossing keeps breaking, the main road in is jammed and commuters park in everyone's street. Someone painted a mural at the station and locals say they got the history wrong.
There are nearly three times the typical town's pubs per head and over six times its public bogs. They've thought it through. Dorset charges £2,765 for a Band D home for the sunshine.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wareham's 89 for broadband means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Broadband89/10016.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.3% across the Dorset council area
- Sewage spills66/100512 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene59/1003.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 58 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour39/10013.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain36/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions31/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson29/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires14/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution13/1005.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping8/1004.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dorset council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Bridport | 49 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Weymouth | 37 |
| 5 | Dorchester | 33 |
| 6 | Christchurch | 22 |
| – | Wareham | 22 |
| 7 | West Moors | 20 |
| 8 | Sherborne | 19 |
| 9 | Wimborne Minster | 19 |
| 10 | Corfe Mullen | 14 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wareham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 47.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 37% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.5 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.0 per 100,000 people, 5x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 10.2 per 10,000 people, 6.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x 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
- 1.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 33.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,730 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 13% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Dorset council
Have a crap-off
Wareham 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.