Crap Towns / Kent / Faversham
Faversham
64/100Crap Score
Known as Favershambles.
353rd crappest of 984 towns, and 15th 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
Hops, beer and one road in.
Brewery town with a hop festival and a high opinion of itself. The roads into town can't cope.
Faversham's been brewing beer for centuries and it's very pleased with itself. The pubs are good, the hop festival's good, and Sittingbourne is just up the road to feel superior to. But the roads in jam at the slightest thing, the new estates keep coming and the banks have been packing up and leaving.
It's got twice the typical town's pubs per head, and the last bus is at 10.29pm, so a night out in Fav ends in a walk home. It used to make gunpowder. Now the bangs come out of the pub car parks on a Friday, and the vandals are busier than in most towns.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Faversham's 90 for broadband means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Broadband90/10018.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.8% across the Swale council area
- Serious road collisions78/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour76/10019.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson74/1008.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping71/10015.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Swale council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution55/1008.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires54/1006.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills20/10042.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Food hygiene10/1000.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 146 food businesses with a rating
- Rain2/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Gillingham | 69 |
| 12 | Ramsgate | 67 |
| 13 | Folkestone | 65 |
| 14 | Herne Bay | 64 |
| 15 | Faversham | 64 |
| 16 | Margate | 63 |
| 17 | Swanley | 59 |
| 18 | Whitstable | 56 |
| 19 | Ashford | 55 |
Faversham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 79.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 53 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 25.3 per 10,000 people, 23x the typical town's 1.1
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 21 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 2 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 14) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 4.8 per 100,000 people, 41% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 2.7x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.29pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 11.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 29% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,746 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 14% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Swale council
Have a crap-off
Faversham 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.