Crap Towns / Northamptonshire / Wellingborough
Wellingborough
74/100Crap Score
Locals call it Welly, or Wellrough.
260th crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Northamptonshire. 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
Wellingborough. Rough in the middle.
A run-down town centre, lots of vape shops, and new estates still waiting for their shops.
Welly to its friends, Wellrough to anyone who's walked through it after dark. It was a boot and shoe town, and the museum's in the old swimming baths, which tells you where the fun peaked. The town centre is officially at risk. Not a building in it. The whole town centre.
What's left on the high street is hairdressers, charity shops and vape shops, with nearly four times the typical town's vape shops per head. Barclays, Halifax, HSBC and NatWest have all announced they're off. Anti-social behaviour is up at 1.8 times the typical town's. Out at Stanton Cross they've got the houses and are still waiting for the shops. They're not missing much.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wellingborough's 88 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour88/10025.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene85/1004.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 360 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution78/1009.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping62/10011.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Northamptonshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions59/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson59/1007.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires53/1005.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills41/100181 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain18/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband7/1001.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the North Northamptonshire council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northampton | 82 |
| 2 | Daventry | 75 |
| 3 | Wellingborough | 74 |
| 4 | Kettering | 54 |
| 5 | Corby | 52 |
| 6 | Rushden | 47 |
| 7 | Raunds | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Burton Latimer | 34 |
| 9 | Towcester | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wellingborough by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 105 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 38% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 1,068 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 196 per 10,000 people, 57.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 14 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 21 pubs, 39 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 4 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 49) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 7.3 per 100,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 12 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 38% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.33am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 4.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 72% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,546 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Northamptonshire council
- £2,424 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £32 more than the English average
- 8% of North Northamptonshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 50% lower than England's 16%
- 25 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Wellingborough 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.