Crap Towns / Kent / Littlestone-on-Sea
Littlestone-on-Sea
33/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 33. 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 Littlestone-on-Sea? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Windy, isn't it.
A shingle beach, a water tower and a lump of wartime concrete stuck in the sea for good.
Littlestone has a shingle beach, a big red water tower and a chunk of wartime harbour stuck in the sea, which is the main attraction. That's how bad it is. The wind never stops. In summer the day trippers park outside people's houses, blast music all night and camp on the beach. The Coast Road's mostly potholes.
There are 1,937 hours of sun a year, and the one bit of sea it's got was rated Poor. Superfast doesn't reach 12.8% of premises, 25.6 times the typical town's share, so you can't even stream a better beach.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Littlestone-on-Sea's 86 for broadband means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Broadband86/10014.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.8% across the Folkestone and Hythe council area
- Fly-tipping76/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Folkestone and Hythe council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions73/1003.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills57/100374 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Food hygiene31/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 28 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires26/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution23/1005.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain13/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour0/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Hythe | 44 |
| 25 | Tonbridge | 43 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.26 | Royal Tunbridge Wells | 39 |
| 27 | Larkfield | 38 |
| 28 | Deal | 36 |
| – | Littlestone-on-Sea | 33 |
| 29 | Herne | 32 |
| 30 | Sevenoaks | 27 |
| 31 | Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley | 10 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Littlestone-on-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 33.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 56% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 17.1 per 10,000 people, 15.5x the typical town's 1.1
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
- Poor Littlestone's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 11.05pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 12.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 25.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 63.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 4.1x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,937 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 26% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Folkestone and Hythe council
Have a crap-off
Littlestone-on-Sea 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.