Crap Towns / Powys / Welshpool
Welshpool
77/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 77. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Which way's out?
A posh castle with terraced gardens, and a one-way system nobody understands.
Welshpool's got Powis Castle and its gardens, a little steam railway and a canal. In town the one-way system makes no sense, lads race round at night with exhausts banging and crossing the road is a gamble.
There are nearly four times the typical town's pubs per head and over six times its charity shops. Barclays and Lloyds have both shut. Crime is up at 1.6 times the typical town's rate, and there are hardly any buses after 7pm, so after the pub it's the racers or a walk. Still, there's a Greggs.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Welshpool's 88 for broadband means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Broadband88/1007.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 37.9% across the Powys council area
- Serious road collisions84/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene82/1006.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 82 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour80/10014.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson79/1009.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills70/100596 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain66/100139 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Air pollution6/1004.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping3/1003.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Powys council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| – | Welshpool | 77 |
| 1 | Newtown | 76 |
Welshpool by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 122 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 24 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 44.0 per 10,000 people, 12.9x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 36.7 per 100,000 people, 10.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.5 per 10,000 people, 3.4x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.13pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 4.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 71% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,387 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 9% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Powys council
Have a crap-off
Welshpool 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.