Crap Towns / West Midlands / West Bromwich
West Bromwich
81/100Crap Score
187th crappest of 984 towns, and 6th in the West Midlands. 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
Bookies and gaps.
The Albion, the boing boing and a High Street of bookies and empty units.
West Brom has the Albion and not a lot else. The High Street is bookies, gaming centres and gaps where shops used to be, and the regeneration gets promised again every few years. Wolves fans say the stripes were nicked off a Tesco bag. At least the bag's useful.
Then you breathe in. The nitrogen dioxide is nearly twice the typical town's, and there have been 16 serious pollution incidents in and round the town since 2016, with dust in 8 of them. There's hardly anywhere for the kids to play either. The play spaces would struggle to fill a bus stop.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
West Bromwich's 97 for air pollution means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Air pollution97/10015.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping94/10035.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Sandwell council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene90/1005.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 517 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson75/1009.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions71/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires67/1008.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain61/100134 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills29/10091.4 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour27/1007.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband25/1005.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.8% across the Sandwell council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Wednesbury | 90 |
| 3 | Birmingham | 86 |
| 4 | Bloxwich | 84 |
| 5 | Brownhills | 82 |
| 6 | West Bromwich | 81 |
| 7 | Cradley Heath | 77 |
| 8 | Dudley | 76 |
| 9 | Willenhall | 74 |
| 10 | Rushall and Shelfield | 73 |
West Bromwich by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 110 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 44% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 74% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 16 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 37 pubs, 65 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 10 bookmakers, 7 vape shops, 11 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 9.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (10 of 105) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 4.0%
- 14 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.30am 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%
- 26.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,473 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Sandwell council
Have a crap-off
West Bromwich 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.