Crap Towns / Kent / Paddock Wood
Paddock Wood
30/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 30. 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
Sod all on.
Paddock Wood used to be hop fields. Now it's new houses, a supermarket and the train to London.
Paddock Wood grew hops and fruit, and Londoners used to come here on holiday to pick them. Nobody comes on holiday now. There's not much to do beyond a café and the supermarket. They're building houses on land that floods, the doctors and schools are full and the station parking spills into the streets. And kids with catapults.
There's a Greggs, at over four times the typical town's rate per head, and 2 pubs. There's no bus after 8.19pm and Sunday's a write-off. Vandalism runs well above the typical town's rate, which is the catapults earning their keep.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Paddock Wood's 80 for broadband means it's crapper than 80% of towns.
- Broadband80/10011.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 19.2% across the Tunbridge Wells council area
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour58/10016.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills53/100309 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Air pollution45/1007.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping28/1006.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Tunbridge Wells council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene25/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 39 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions23/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain14/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires12/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 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 |
| 29 | Herne | 32 |
| – | Paddock Wood | 30 |
| 30 | Sevenoaks | 27 |
| 31 | Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley | 10 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Paddock Wood by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 81.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 6% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 24% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 13.1 per 100,000 people, 3.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 6.6 per 10,000 people, 4.1x 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
- 8.19pm last bus out on a Wednesday, and none on a Sunday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 11% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,698 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Tunbridge Wells council
Have a crap-off
Paddock Wood 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.