Crap Towns / Kent / Canterbury
Canterbury
80/100Crap Score
201st crappest of 984 towns, and 4th 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
Canterbury. Pretty. Then it isn't.
Cathedral, cobbles, walls, and more vandals than you'd ever put on a postcard.
Canterbury's lovely on a postcard. Walls, cobbles, cathedral. Then you pay a fortune to park and find the vandals got there first. Criminal damage comes in at twice the typical town's rate, anti-social behaviour's not far behind, and the bins get set alight on top. Locals call it CAN'Terbury, because there's nothing to do. Plenty of people have found something.
Shoplifting comes in at over three times the typical town's rate, so the independent shops that are left are being cleared out one way or another. Nearly a third of premises can't get gigabit broadband, in a university city. The buses run all night, so you can always get home from whatever it is there's nothing to do.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Canterbury's 98 for broadband means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Broadband98/10031.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 25.0% across the Canterbury council area
- Criminal damage and arson95/10014.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour90/10027.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions84/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping80/10018.8 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Canterbury council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires72/1009.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution53/1008.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills18/10035.2 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain8/100113 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene8/1001.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 517 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheerness | 96 |
| 2 | Chatham | 89 |
| 3 | Dartford | 80 |
| 4 | Canterbury | 80 |
| 5 | Northfleet | 75 |
| 6 | Sittingbourne | 74 |
| 7 | Gravesend | 73 |
| 8 | Dover | 72 |
| 9 | Rochester | 72 |
Canterbury by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 140 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 76.2
- 15 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.7 per 10,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 1.1
- 7 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 40 pubs, 50 hairdressers, 10 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 10 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 43) Better: 43% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.8 per 100,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 25 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.5 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 1.6
- 5 public swimming pools open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 3 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 1.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,765 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 15% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Canterbury council
Have a crap-off
Canterbury 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.