Crap Towns / Kent / Chatham
Chatham
89/100Crap Score
107th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd 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
Go to Rochester.
A proper old dockyard, and a High Street that gave up years ago.
Chatham's got a famous dockyard and the telly comes to film the old streets. Then you walk up the High Street. Empty shops, litter, smashed windows and anti-social behaviour at 1.6 times the typical town's rate. The bus tracker says it's coming and then it isn't. Ask a local where to go and they'll say Rochester. Good advice.
The local firebugs are always setting fire to something. The firebugs are busy, at nearly three times the typical town's rate, mostly grass and scrub, which in Chatham counts as a park. Across Medway the fly-tippers dumped 682 loads the size of a tipper lorry or bigger in a single year.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Chatham's 90 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson90/10011.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution88/10011.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires86/10016.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions85/1003.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour83/10023.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping81/10019.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Medway council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband54/1008.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.6% across the Medway council area
- Food hygiene53/1002.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 349 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills24/10055.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain19/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| 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 |
Chatham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 109 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 43% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 389 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 50.5 per 10,000 people, 14.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 19 pubs, 36 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 9 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 52) Better: 53% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.3 per 100,000 people, 62% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 11 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.1 per 10,000 people, 86% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
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
- 0.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 21.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 40% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,683 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 10% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Medway council
Have a crap-off
Chatham 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.