Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Watford
Watford
38/100Crap Score
610th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th 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
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agree it's crap have defended it
Watford. Grotty Watty.
Everything past here is the North, apparently. Luton fans call it Twatford.
Watford gets blamed for the Watford Gap, which isn't even here, and everyone south of it reckons this is where the North starts. There's Cassiobury Park, the football, and a town centre that kicks off on a Saturday night. Locals call it Grotty Watty. Luton fans call it Twatford. Both fair.
Anti-social behaviour sits at 1.6 times the typical town's rate, the nitrogen dioxide's 45% above it, and somebody's having the phones out of people's hands. Not one bank has shut since 2022, and there are hardly any charity shops, which round here nearly counts as posh.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Watford's 89 for air pollution means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Air pollution89/10012.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour83/10023.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping63/10012.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Watford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson41/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions39/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires33/1004.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain23/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband23/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.0% across the Watford council area
- Sewage spills19/100
- Food hygiene5/1001.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 730 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Baldock | 45 |
| 7 | Potters Bar | 43 |
| 8 | Bushey | 42 |
| 9 | Welwyn Garden City | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.10 | Watford | 38 |
| 11 | Hitchin | 35 |
| 12 | Letchworth | 28 |
| 13 | Hoddesdon | 28 |
| 14 | Berkhamsted | 22 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Watford by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 82.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 201 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 15.3 per 10,000 people, 4.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 34 pubs, 24 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 11 bookmakers, 9 banks, 5 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 75) Better: 33% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 cash machine closure assessed by LINK
- 22 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 7 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 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
- 12.52am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later 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%
- 8.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,614 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 5% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Watford council
- £2,447 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £55 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%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Watford 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.