Crap Towns / Essex / Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea
68/100Crap Score
319th crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in Essex. 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
Got something to say about Clacton-on-Sea? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Walk one street back. Go on.
Nice beach. Shame about everything behind it.
The seafront's alright. Pier, arcades, gardens, the full bucket and spade. Then you walk a street inland and wonder what happened. Charity shop, vape shop, charity shop, boarded up. Locals call it Crackton, and they live there, so they'd know.
It gets 1,796 hours of sunshine a year and somebody still sets the bins alight for the extra heat. The fire brigade gets called to deliberate fires at more than twice the typical town's rate, mostly bins and rubbish. The kitchens score badly at more than twice the typical rate as well, so the chips on the front are a gamble. Nice beach, though.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Clacton-on-Sea's 90 for food hygiene means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Food hygiene90/1005.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 357 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson87/10010.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband86/10014.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 20.6% across the Tendring council area
- Deliberate fires80/10012.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions79/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour69/10012.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution50/1007.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills32/100111 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping8/1003.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tendring council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain1/100106 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basildon | 86 |
| 2 | Tilbury | 83 |
| 3 | Waltham Abbey | 69 |
| 4 | Clacton-on-Sea | 68 |
| 5 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 64 |
| 6 | Chadwell St Mary | 62 |
| 7 | Southend-on-Sea | 55 |
| 8 | Colchester | 55 |
| 9 | Wickford | 52 |
Clacton-on-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 115 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 76.2
- 16 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.0 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical town's 1.1
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
- 3 of 4 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 18 pubs, 52 hairdressers, 20 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 6 vape shops, 5 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (4 of 55) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 3 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 5.6 per 100,000 people, 1.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 12 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 44% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.58pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 27.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,796 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 17% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Tendring council
Have a crap-off
Clacton-on-Sea 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.