''Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK'','' Crap Towns II: The Nation Decides'', and ''Crap Towns Returns: Back by Unpopular Demand'', are a series of books edited by Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran, in association with UK

quarterly A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content (media), content. They are generally financed by advertising, newsagent's shop, ...

'' The Idler''; in which towns in the United Kingdom were nominated by visitors to ''The Idler'' website for their " crapness", with the results being published in ''The Idler'' and in the books. A sister publication, ''Crap Jobs'', was created by similar means, and ''Crap Holidays'' was published in October 2006. In June 2012, the editors announced that they were gathering nominations for a third edition of Crap Towns (published 2013).

Controversy

Publication of ''Crap Towns'' brought widespread criticism from residents, politicians and other notable figures from the towns listed. Many notable figures were quick to defend their respective towns. These included a number of MPs such as

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

, MP for

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, which appeared at number four in the 2003 edition. Howard claimed that Hythe was "the jewel of Kent." Some thought the selection process and/or subsequent portrayals to be inherently biased, "random", subjective, inconsistent and/or unscientific. The editors of the book wrote to "local worthies" in each of the nominated towns to gain their responses and views. Local newspapers were quick to defend their towns, such as the ''Stockport Express'' (2006), Conversely, some former residents have tended to agree with the assessments, such as

Sarfraz Manzoor Sarfraz Manzoor ( ur, سرفراز منظور; born 9 June 1971) is a British journalist, documentary maker, broadcaster, and screenwriter of Pakistani origin. He is a regular contributor to ''The Guardian'', presenter of documentaries on BBC Ra ...

, writing about

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (2006). However, Manzoor also concluded that there was "of course, an unmistakable air of snobbery around the people behind such a book; the stench of rich kids having fun at the expense of those less able to afford to be professionally idle" and added that "rather than sneering at towns such as Luton, we should be applauding the contribution that crap towns have made to all our lives."

Survey results

Readers voted for the top 50 crap towns in the UK. The top ten by reader votes in descending order of "crapness" (with 1 being the worst) were:

References

External links

Idler Website – 'Crap' section
*BBC News �
"UK's 'worst 50' towns revealed"
— with list of the ten worst *BBC News �
"Luton voted Britain's worst town"
— with list of the ten worst in ''Crap Towns II''
''Crap Towns Returns''
– new nominations in 2012.
Official site

BBC News – "UK's 'worst 50' towns revealed" – with list of the ten worst
{{italic title 2003 non-fiction books Travel books 2004 non-fiction books 2013 non-fiction books Books about the United Kingdom