Crap Towns / Kent / Broadstairs
Broadstairs
47/100Crap Score
People from here are Bradstows.
519th crappest of 984 towns, and 23rd in Kent. 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
Boredstairs. Their word, not ours.
Gorgeous beach in summer. The rest of the year, the locals call it Boredstairs.
Broadstairs has a cracking beach, so all of London turns up in August and parks across your drive. Then they leave, and the place goes back to being Boredstairs, full of retired people and not much else. Folk Week brings men in bells. The drivers round here are a menace, so mind yourself crossing to the beach.
It only rains on 108 days a year, so it's not the weather that's boring. Some knobhead's livening the place up by setting fire to the bins, with deliberate fires at nearly twice the typical town's rate. There are 28 pubs, over twice the typical town's per head. That's where the retired people are.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Broadstairs's 83 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 83% of towns.
- Serious road collisions83/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband82/10012.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 20.8% across the Thanet council area
- Fly-tipping77/10017.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Thanet council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires74/10010.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson67/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution47/1007.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour34/10012.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills8/1003.5 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain3/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene2/1000.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 221 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Ashford | 55 |
| 20 | Minster | 54 |
| 21 | Snodland | 50 |
| 22 | Swanscombe | 48 |
| 23 | Broadstairs | 47 |
| 24 | Hythe | 44 |
| 25 | Tonbridge | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.26 | Royal Tunbridge Wells | 39 |
| 27 | Larkfield | 38 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Broadstairs by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 66.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 88% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
- 3 of 5 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 28 pubs, 12 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 3 vape shops, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 20) Worse: 25% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 11 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.3 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.14am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 29.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,865 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 22% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Thanet council
Have a crap-off
Broadstairs 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.