Crap Towns / Cheshire / Widnes
Widnes
63/100Crap Score
364th crappest of 984 towns, and 3rd in Cheshire. 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
Widnes. Smells like Widnes.
Chemical town. You'll smell it before you see it. Then you'll get a fine on the bridge.
Widnes made chemicals, and on a bad day by West Bank you'd swear it still does. Locals are Chemics. Warrington calls them Widiots. The new bridge is grand, but you pay the toll online, and forget once and the fine lands on your mat.
The local firebugs set a fire three times as often as in the typical town, the sewers overflow for nearly two and a half times as long, and food businesses are twice as likely to be rated 0 to 2 on hygiene. Smelly Widnes, they call it. The sewage isn't helping.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Widnes's 87 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 87% of towns.
- Deliberate fires87/10017.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene84/1004.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 342 food businesses with a rating
- Rain76/100152 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills72/100644 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions63/1002.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution63/10010.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour55/10010.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson51/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband15/1003.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.0% across the Halton council area
- Fly-tipping4/1003.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Halton council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crewe | 70 |
| 2 | Northwich | 69 |
| 3 | Widnes | 63 |
| 4 | Winsford | 52 |
| 5 | Chester | 49 |
| 6 | Ellesmere Port | 49 |
| 7 | Warrington | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Runcorn | 39 |
| 9 | Middlewich | 39 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Widnes by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 87.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 15% higher than 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: 4.0 per 10,000 people, 18% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 35 pubs, 22 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 4 vape shops, 5 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.2% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 46) Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 About the same: 3.3 per 100,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 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
- 12.28am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 14.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space About the same: About the same as the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,459 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Halton council
Have a crap-off
Widnes 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.