Crap Towns / Kent / Minster
Minster
54/100Crap Score
People from here are Swampies.
458th crappest of 984 towns, and 20th 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
Minster. On Sheppey. Sorry.
Shingle beach, fossils in the cliff, and roads nobody ever got round to finishing.
Minster's on the Isle of Sheppey, up on a hill, so it gets to look down on the rest of the island. There's a shingle beach, fossils in the clay and an old gatehouse. Some of the roads were never even finished. The wind blows rubbish all down the prom and getting a train to the mainland is a day out in itself.
It only rains on 102 days a year and the sun's out for 1,825 hours, so it's not the weather keeping people on the island. That'd be the buses: the last one goes at 7.13pm and there's none on a Sunday. There's 1 public toilet. The sea at Minster Leas is rated Excellent, mind, so the Swampies get one win.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Minster's 77 for broadband means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Broadband77/1009.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.8% across the Swale council area
- Fly-tipping71/10015.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Swale council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions68/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires66/1008.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution58/1008.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson57/1007.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour48/10015.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene46/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 47 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills14/10016.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain0/100102 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Margate | 63 |
| 17 | Swanley | 59 |
| 18 | Whitstable | 56 |
| 19 | Ashford | 55 |
| 20 | Minster | 54 |
| 21 | Snodland | 50 |
| 22 | Swanscombe | 48 |
| 23 | Broadstairs | 47 |
| 24 | Hythe | 44 |
Minster by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 54.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 29% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.6 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical town's 1.1
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
- Excellent Minster Leas's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 3 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than 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
- 7.13pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 15.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space About the same: About the same as the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,825 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 19% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Swale council
Have a crap-off
Minster 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.