Crap Towns / Kent / Gillingham
Gillingham
69/100Crap Score
308th crappest of 984 towns, and 11th 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
Not the Dorset one.
Priestfield, the Gills and a High Street people call Mingingham.
Gillingham has the Gills at Priestfield and a High Street that's earned the name Mingingham. There's not much in the town centre, and the lads round the station make sure you don't hang about looking for it. You have to say the G soft, like ginger, or people think you mean the Dorset one. The Dorset one's nicer.
The fly-tippers have the rest. Medway council logged 682 tipper-lorry loads or bigger in a single year, and that's not somebody's old mattress, that's a business. The sunshine adds up to 1,702 hours a year, which is a lot of light to see the High Street by. The Gills spend most of their energy hating Maidstone.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Gillingham's 87 for air pollution means it's crapper than 87% of towns.
- Air pollution87/10011.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping81/10019.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Medway council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions73/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires62/1007.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour58/10016.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene40/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 514 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband36/1004.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.6% across the Medway council area
- Sewage spills25/10066.5 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain14/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Gravesend | 73 |
| 8 | Dover | 72 |
| 9 | Rochester | 72 |
| 10 | Maidstone | 69 |
| 11 | Gillingham | 69 |
| 12 | Ramsgate | 67 |
| 13 | Folkestone | 65 |
| 14 | Herne Bay | 64 |
| 15 | Faversham | 64 |
Gillingham by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 86.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 14% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 348 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 32.1 per 10,000 people, 9.4x 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
- 34 pubs, 53 hairdressers, 16 charity shops, 8 bookmakers, 8 vape shops, 4 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 75) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 3.7 per 100,000 people, 9% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 25 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 44% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 9 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 14% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 4 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.35am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,702 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Medway council
Have a crap-off
Gillingham 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.