Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Wetherby
Wetherby
16/100Crap Score
822nd crappest of 984 towns, and 37th in West Yorkshire. 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
Nice, apart from the dumping.
Horse racing, a pretty river, and somebody's old fridge dumped in a lay-by.
Wetherby's a posh little market town with a racecourse, the Wharfe and lots of pubs. Crime's low and nobody kicks off. The bus into Leeds takes forever, Westgate's jammed at the lights and the chain takeaways are moving in. Then there's the fly-tipping, worse than it should be. Someone's dumping, and it's not the horses.
Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have all shut a branch, which for a town this size is ten times the typical rate. The Wharfe at Wilderness Car Park was rated Poor for bathing in 2025. The map can't find a public park either. The horses get the best grass in town.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wetherby's 79 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 79% of towns.
- Fly-tipping79/10015.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Leeds council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions56/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain52/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband41/1008.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.0% across the Leeds council area
- Deliberate fires33/1004.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution31/1007.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills15/10019.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene10/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 79 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson7/1003.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour6/1004.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
| 31 | Otley | 55 |
| 32 | Ilkley | 48 |
| 33 | Guiseley | 48 |
| 34 | Kippax | 44 |
| 35 | Yeadon | 43 |
| 36 | Garforth | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.37 | Wetherby | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wetherby by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 76.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 9 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 7.7 per 10,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Poor Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 5 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 34.2 per 100,000 people, 10.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.3 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.14am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3x the typical town's 0.5%
- 44.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,402 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Leeds council
Have a crap-off
Wetherby 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.