Crap Towns / Essex / Jaywick
Jaywick
56/100Crap Score
Known as Costa del Jaywick.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 56. 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
The cameras are back.
There's a sandy beach. The telly crews always seem to film the potholes instead.
Jaywick has a sandy beach, an old Martello tower and roads the council won't take on, so they've been falling apart for decades. It floods and the drains don't work. Every few months a camera crew turns up, films the worst road and goes home. Fix the roads and they'd have nothing to film.
The crews never film the sunshine, and there's 1,817 hours of it a year. They don't film the kitchens either, which is a shame, because 6 of the 28 with a rating score 0 to 2. Somebody keeps putting windows through, at more than twice the typical town's rate, and the storm overflows spill for well over twice the typical town's hours. Lovely beach, mind.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Jaywick's 98 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson98/10017.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene94/10021.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 28 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires79/10013.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour73/10012.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills73/100680 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband45/1001.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 20.6% across the Tendring council area
- Air pollution31/1006.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions27/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping8/1003.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tendring council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain0/100104 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Waltham Abbey | 69 |
| 4 | Clacton-on-Sea | 68 |
| 5 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 64 |
| 6 | Chadwell St Mary | 62 |
| – | Jaywick | 56 |
| 7 | Southend-on-Sea | 55 |
| 8 | Colchester | 55 |
| 9 | Wickford | 52 |
| 10 | Canvey Island | 51 |
Jaywick by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 152 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 2x the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.9 per 10,000 people, 5.4x the typical town's 1.1
- 1 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 10.21pm 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%
- 34.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,817 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 19% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Tendring council
Have a crap-off
Jaywick 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.