Crap Towns / Essex / Tilbury
Tilbury
83/100Crap Score
168th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in Essex. 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
Gravesend is just there.
Cruise ships, container docks, and no ferry to Gravesend, which you can see from here.
Tilbury is docks, cranes and a cruise terminal, and you can see Gravesend across the river. You can't get there, though, because the ferry's gone, so it's a massive drive round instead. There's an old fort. The football team is the Dockers and they hate Grays. Everyone does round here.
Tilbury has six times the typical town's deliberate fires, mostly bins and rubbish, and it's going up. Criminal damage comes in at nearly two and a half times the typical town's rate, and the cars get done over too. If it isn't nailed down it's on fire.
The air's grim too, with nitrogen dioxide at 1.9 times the typical town's, off the docks and the lorries. It hardly ever rains. That's the good news.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tilbury's 98 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson98/10016.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution96/10015.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires95/10034.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour91/10018.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping74/10015.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Thurrock council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions59/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene44/1002.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 50 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills42/100198 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband31/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.2% across the Thurrock council area
- Rain0/100105 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basildon | 86 |
| 2 | Tilbury | 83 |
| 3 | Waltham Abbey | 69 |
| 4 | Clacton-on-Sea | 68 |
| 5 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 64 |
| 6 | Chadwell St Mary | 62 |
| 7 | Southend-on-Sea | 55 |
| 8 | Colchester | 55 |
| 9 | Wickford | 52 |
Tilbury by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 120 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of fly-tipping on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 4.2 per 10,000 people, 3.8x the typical town's 1.1
- 5 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 3 hairdressers, 2 charity shops on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 11) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 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
- 12.15am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 1.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 90% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,676 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Thurrock council
Have a crap-off
Tilbury 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.