Crap Towns / Cambridgeshire / Wisbech
Wisbech
78/100Crap Score
219th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Cambridgeshire. 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
Wisbech. Wisbitch to some.
A handsome Georgian riverfront and a Market Place of empty shops, bookies and charity shops.
Wisbech calls itself the Capital of the Fens, which is pushing it, and the Venice of the Fens, which is taking the piss. The Georgian riverfront's nice. The Market Place is empty shops, bookies and charity shops, with the bookies at three times the typical town's rate per head, and the old buildings are falling apart.
The train's never come back. What's coming instead is an incinerator. The banks aren't hanging about to see it: four of the big ones have shut a branch since 2022, more than four times the typical town's rate.
Crime comes in at 1.6 times the typical town's rate, and more people get caught carrying weapons than you'd like. The serious crashes on the Fen roads come in at 1.7 times the typical town's, too.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wisbech's 90 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Serious road collisions90/1004.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson89/10011.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour81/10022.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires73/100
- Food hygiene62/1003.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 189 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping58/10010.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Fenland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband55/1007.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 11.5% across the Fenland council area
- Air pollution54/1007.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills11/10010.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain10/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntingdon | 79 |
| 2 | Wisbech | 78 |
| 3 | Peterborough | 70 |
| 4 | Cambridge | 63 |
| 5 | St Ives | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.6 | Chatteris | 29 |
| 7 | March | 28 |
| 8 | Ely | 24 |
| 9 | St Neots | 18 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wisbech by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 119 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 15 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.6 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 12 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 11 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.5% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 29) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 14.9 per 100,000 people, 4.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.35pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,510 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Fenland council
- £2,538 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £146 more than the English average
- 7% of Cambridgeshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 56% lower than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Wisbech 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.