Crap Towns / Kent / Hoo St Werburgh
Hoo St Werburgh
41/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 41. 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 Hoo St Werburgh? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Who? No, Hoo.
A village on the marshes that keeps getting houses and nothing else.
Hoo St Werburgh is a village on the marshes with a fort out in the river and fields disappearing under new houses every year. Nobody's built any roads to go with them, so Four Elms Hill is a queue and the buses are rubbish. And everyone asks Hoo?
It barely rains, 106 days a year, and it's got public pools at over three times the typical town's rate per head, so it's not short of water either way. The air's over the health guidelines for both nitrogen dioxide and fine particles, though, so the estuary birds are breathing the same shite you are. Medway's fly-tippers do the rest.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Hoo St Werburgh's 82 for air pollution means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Air pollution82/10010.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping81/10019.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Medway council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour63/10017.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband54/1008.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.6% across the Medway council area
- Criminal damage and arson40/1006.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills39/100172 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Food hygiene32/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 26 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires29/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions17/1001.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain0/100106 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Swanscombe | 48 |
| 23 | Broadstairs | 47 |
| 24 | Hythe | 44 |
| 25 | Tonbridge | 43 |
| – | Hoo St Werburgh | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.26 | Royal Tunbridge Wells | 39 |
| 27 | Larkfield | 38 |
| 28 | Deal | 36 |
| 29 | Herne | 32 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Hoo St Werburgh by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 66 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 75.3 per 10,000 people, 22.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 2.3 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.25pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 45% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,736 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 13% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Medway council
Have a crap-off
Hoo St Werburgh 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.