Crap Towns / Shropshire / Whitchurch
Whitchurch
11/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 11. 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
Got something to say about Whitchurch? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Nowhere to go of a night.
Shropshire's oldest market town. They've shut the Civic Centre and nobody knows what's next.
Whitchurch is Shropshire's oldest market town. The Romans were here first, it made the clocks, and it's got its own arm of the canal. Annoyingly, it's quite nice. Then they shut the Civic Centre, nobody knows what's happening to it, and the town centre went quiet round it. The public toilets in the middle went too.
Per head there are over four times the typical town's charity shops, and it's not short of pubs either, so that's the high street. 2 of the 11 rated takeaways score 0 to 2. The last bus out on a Wednesday goes at 8.32pm and nothing runs on a Sunday, so after a night in the pubs you're walking home, with nowhere to stop for a wee.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Whitchurch's 71 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 71% of towns.
- Food hygiene71/1004.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 64 food businesses with a rating
- Rain65/100138 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband60/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 25.4% across the Shropshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson39/1006.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills30/10093.5 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour29/10011.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution15/1005.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions13/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires9/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping9/1004.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Shropshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Telford | 59 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Shrewsbury | 39 |
| 3 | Newport | 29 |
| 4 | Oswestry | 28 |
| 5 | Bridgnorth | 23 |
| 6 | Ludlow | 19 |
| – | Whitchurch | 11 |
| 7 | Market Drayton | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Whitchurch by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 60.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 21% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 246 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 250 per 10,000 people, 73.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 10 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 18.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 11) Worse: 4.6x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 20.3 per 100,000 people, 6x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 8.32pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier 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%
- 11.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 28% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,464 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Shropshire council
Have a crap-off
Whitchurch 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.