Crap Towns / West Midlands / Willenhall
Willenhall
74/100Crap Score
252nd crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in the West Midlands. 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
Somebody lock it up.
Willenhall made the country's locks and keys. Now it's empty factories that keep catching fire.
Willenhall made the locks and keys for half the doors in the country, and there are lock and key sculptures in the market place in case you forget. The works that made them stand empty, and every so often one goes up. Fires here get started on purpose at 2.2 times the typical town's, bins and rubbish more than anything, and an old factory when some knobhead's feeling ambitious. New Invention lost its library in 2017.
Bell Alley is rubbish and needles. Food places score 0 to 2 on hygiene at three times the typical town's rate. The last serious pollution incident put cyanides in the water. The bandstand in the park is nice, mind. It's the one nice thing anyone ever says about Willenhall, so they say it a lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Willenhall's 94 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Food hygiene94/1007.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 249 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution93/10013.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires79/10012.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping77/10017.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Walsall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour59/10011.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain57/100132 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions32/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills24/10058.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband13/1002.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Walsall council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Brownhills | 82 |
| 6 | West Bromwich | 81 |
| 7 | Cradley Heath | 77 |
| 8 | Dudley | 76 |
| 9 | Willenhall | 74 |
| 10 | Rushall and Shelfield | 73 |
| 11 | Oldbury | 72 |
| 12 | Tipton | 72 |
| 13 | Darlaston | 71 |
Willenhall by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 103 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 35% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 58 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 11.7 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 14 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 16 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 2 bookmakers, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 10.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (5 of 46) Worse: 2.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.0 per 100,000 people, 41% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: New Invention Library (2017)
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.2 per 10,000 people, 71% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.40am 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%
- 39.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,427 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 7% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Walsall council
Have a crap-off
Willenhall 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.