Crap Towns / Dorset / Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster
19/100Crap Score
794th crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in Dorset. 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
Made a model of itself. Course it did.
A minster, a chained library, and a model village of the town itself. Bit full of itself.
Wimborne Minster's got a minster with an old library where the books are chained to the shelves, and a model village that's a little copy of Wimborne. That's how much it loves itself. Nice place, plenty of pubs, a folk festival. The moans are jams at the bridges, nowhere to park and no train.
For a town that made a model of itself, 52.7% of people live more than 400 metres from a park, over three times the typical town's share. They should have put one in the model.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wimborne Minster's 84 for broadband means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Broadband84/10011.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.3% across the Dorset council area
- Sewage spills69/100578 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour53/10015.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain53/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions34/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires27/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution23/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson22/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping8/1004.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dorset council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene5/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 107 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Dorchester | 33 |
| 6 | Christchurch | 22 |
| 7 | West Moors | 20 |
| 8 | Sherborne | 19 |
| 9 | Wimborne Minster | 19 |
| 10 | Corfe Mullen | 14 |
| 11 | Ferndown | 10 |
| 12 | Blandford Forum | 8 |
| 13 | Gillingham | 8 |
Wimborne Minster by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 47.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 38% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.6 per 10,000 people, 4x the typical town's 0.9
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 14 pubs, 4 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 6.0 per 100,000 people, 1.8x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.4 per 10,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 14% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.32am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 52.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.4x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,719 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 12% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Dorset council
Have a crap-off
Wimborne Minster 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.