Crap Towns / Worcestershire / Worcester
Worcester
29/100Crap Score
Locals call it the Woo.
697th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in Worcestershire. 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 Worcester? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Worcester. Bring your wellies.
Famous for a sauce nobody can pronounce, a river that won't stay put and gulls that scream all day.
Worcester has a cathedral, a cricket ground, the porcelain and a sauce nobody outside the county can say properly. It also has the Severn, which comes over the banks every winter and floods the riverside paths, the roads along it and the cricket pitch. The gulls scream at you all year, flooded or not.
It's rougher than the postcards let on. Anti-social behaviour and vandalism both run about a third over the typical town's, and the bike thieves are flat out. The Environment Agency has logged 12 serious pollution incidents in and round the city since 2016, with diesel in 2 of them. Every Vigornian will tell you Hereford's worse anyway.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Worcester's 77 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson77/1009.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour72/10018.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills45/100224 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires41/1005.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution39/1007.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband36/1006.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.6% across the Worcester council area
- Rain35/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene33/1001.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 520 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions30/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping6/1004.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Worcester council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evesham | 47 |
| 2 | Kidderminster | 47 |
| 3 | Stourport-on-Severn | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Redditch | 35 |
| 5 | Worcester | 29 |
| 6 | Great Malvern | 27 |
| 7 | Bromsgrove | 26 |
| 8 | Catshill | 19 |
| 9 | Droitwich Spa | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Worcester by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 97.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 28% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 19 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 0.9
- 12 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 63 pubs, 46 hairdressers, 20 charity shops, 9 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 11 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 93) Worse: 8% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 21 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 25% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 10 public swimming pools open; 4 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 4 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.45pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,540 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Worcester council
- £2,406 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £14 more than the English average
- 18% of Worcestershire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Worcester 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.