Crap Towns / West Glamorgan / Ystalyfera
Ystalyfera
49/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 49. 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
Good luck saying it.
It made iron and tinplate. Now it makes visitors struggle with the name.
Ystalyfera once had some of the biggest iron and tinplate works going. Now it's a quiet valley town with a canal walk, a rugby club called the Fera and a hillside locals call the moving mountain, which is never a good sign.
It's wet on 185 days a year, and the water company lets sewage out for over 40 times as long as in the typical town. 25% of the takeaways come in at 0 to 2 for hygiene. The last bus is at 6.05pm and on a Sunday there isn't one. Nobody can say the name, and nobody can leave.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ystalyfera's 100 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 100% of towns.
- Sewage spills100/10011,142 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain99/100185 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband89/10019.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 16.8% across the Neath Port Talbot council area
- Food hygiene81/1007.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 57 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions52/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Criminal damage and arson37/1006.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping15/1005.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Neath Port Talbot council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour7/1007.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution3/1003.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Talbot | 53 |
| – | Ystalyfera | 49 |
| 2 | Swansea | 46 |
| 3 | Neath | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Baglan | 32 |
| 5 | Gorseinon | 25 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Ystalyfera by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 63.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 17% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 12.8 per 10,000 people, 3.8x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 25.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 12) Worse: 6.3x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 6.05pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier 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%
- 21.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 41% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,412 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 8% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Neath Port Talbot council
Have a crap-off
Ystalyfera 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.