Crap Towns / Essex / Grays
Grays
46/100Crap Score
531st crappest of 984 towns, and 13th 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
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agree it's crap have defended it
Grays. Shops shut. Shoppers gone.
The old cinema was in a Hollywood film. Now it's at risk while the high street waits for regeneration.
Grays has the Thames, a little beach and an old cinema that was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, now on the Heritage at Risk register. The high street is empty shops, the shoppers all drive to the big centre down the road, and the one-way system takes you round and round. The regeneration's been promised for years.
There's 1.7 times the typical town's nitrogen dioxide in the air, which is what you breathe on your nice walk down to the beach. The fire brigade gets called to deliberate fires at nearly twice the typical town's rate and the kitchens fail at well over twice it. Thurrock council lost 16 of the 17 complaints the ombudsman looked into. Lovely.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Grays's 95 for air pollution means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Air pollution95/10014.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene88/1005.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 209 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires76/10011.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping74/10015.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Thurrock council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson61/1007.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour46/1009.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband20/1002.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.2% across the Thurrock council area
- Serious road collisions19/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain1/100107 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Wickford | 52 |
| 10 | Canvey Island | 51 |
| 11 | Harlow | 48 |
| 12 | Epping | 47 |
| 13 | Grays | 46 |
| 14 | Chigwell | 43 |
| 15 | Loughton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | South Ockendon | 37 |
| 17 | Buckhurst Hill | 37 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Grays by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 90.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 18% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 1.1
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 10 pubs, 20 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 7.1% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 42) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 4.5 per 100,000 people, 32% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 13% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.49pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 20.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 29% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,675 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Thurrock council
Have a crap-off
Grays 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.