Jokes aside can we all see an emerging pattern here. Most of England's once glorious towns have now entered a period of demise. Councils going bankrupt, not enough police and certainly not on the streets. Decrepit shopping precincts, failing public services....the list goes on. All the wealth from this country has been hoovered up but corporations and the elite. Not much hope on the horizon.
Yes, it's a similar story all over. They've gone and mined-out the resources that once sustained the High street, and still think they can squeeze it more. Town planners and sociology experts need reeducation urgently.
I grew up in the Medway Towns and the best way I can put it is this: When I watch movies about asteroids hitting the earth and wiping out humanity, I always grin and think of the Medway Towns. The river banks are covered by toxic sludge, when they shut down Chatham Dockyards and all the armed forces moved away the economy tanked, and there is a rotting WWII ammunition ship , the SS Richard Montgomery, sunk off the coast of Sheerness. It has 1400 tonnes of unexploded munitions in the hold and if the ship ever gets rammed, half of the Isle of Sheppey will be vapourised by a 1.4 megaton explosion. Apparently to this day, you can sometimes spot locals staring out to sea with a wistful look on their face, hoping that the collision will finally come.
There shouldn't be one food bank in a country like the UK. The very fact that they exist shows appalling failure of government to provide for and care for it's citizens.
@ Graeme, it is not the job of the government to provide for you, it’s your responsibility to sort your own life out 🤦♀️🤦♀️ the corrupt Government is out of control and becoming more authoritarian by the week -
according to the Tories, food banks show how wonderful and charitable we all are. World-beating spin! And they use "levelling up" because they think it appeals to the 18-30 demographic (they play games, games have "levels" .. ) yes they think that little of people.
I'm glad you've shined a light on how much of a dump certain parts of here in Kent are. I get sick and tired of the media always portraying the South East as rolling in money. When in fact the North West and Eastern parts of the county are pretty destitute.
Dartford, Gravesend and Chatham were decimated by the opening of Bluewater in 1999. I was a native of Medway and the shops in Chatham High Street used to have an excellent range of amenities, the huge building past the Pentagon Centre used to be an Allders in the old days. There was also a BHS, Marks and Spencers where Primark is and a Co-op. All in the past now. You should have taken a walk down Luton Road underneath the arches at the top of the High Street, that would have been an eye opener(you probably wouldn't have had your camera very long though). Additional, should really have mentioned this originally but Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey was home to the worlds first cargo flight when aviator John Moore Brabazon flew a pig in a basket across a field.
Not that Gravesend was in a great place to begin with. It used to be a major shipping hub, until containerisation happened and ships got bigger, so all the ships moved to Dartford. That leaves Gravesend with not a lot of business activity.
I lived in Ramsgate for 35 years and although it has the usual economic problems faced by UK seaside towns, the things I will always remember it for is how fresh and pure the air is, being surrounded on three sides by the sea and with no polluting heavy industry nearby, and how even on the hottest Summer day there was always a cooling and refreshing breeze coming in from the sea.
I was also from Ramsgate, born there, generations of us. I loved growing up there. However I recently visitied and was saddened to see how run down it has become, yes the front is nice, but on the whole it has become a demilitarised zone. Change is not always a good thing!
Really friendly people in Ramsgate, driving ,you make a mistake there's no obvious road rage, and people seem to apologise for non issues, someone thinks they've stepped in your path whilst walking ,they apologise --- no need just ultra polite.
I once lived in Margate and owned a large victorian mansion 3 minutes away from the sea front and in the course of 5 years it became a crime ridden shole along with quite a few local murders and junkies roaming the streets helped along by the local churches who fed these people after they wasted all thier dole money on drugs " we used to have a month where the council would collect unwanted items and that used to attract many to go through the items we put out scattering everything across the pavement and Rd and the hmos existed everywhere full of junkies or pedophiles as the last year there we were also burgled which made our minds up to get away from margate as it was once a lovely place but now destroyed by corrupt councils and businesses obtaining grants for improvements and then selling the assets as all I see now is London money and arty farty crap trying to polish a turd called margate .
I love Ramsgate, had brief holidays there each of the last three years. It could do with more bed & breakfast options and a decent Chinese restaurant. However the attraction as a cider lover is two great micro pubs and the biggest Wetherspoon in Britain, plus the harbour has real character. Visited nearby Margate on a day trip, rather nondescript.
Kent lad here. Thank you for proving that the garden of England was concreted over long ago. I'm sick of being judged as "posh" or "lucky" for being born there. There's some real shitholes & even the "attractions" are crap.
Btw one of the streets you filmed in Gravesend is where I used to get the bus with my Nan. It was buzzing back then. Shocking to see how it is now. Also there used to be a plaque which narrowed down the approximate location of Pochahontas' grave.
Yeah, whenever I ever meet a Northerner they act like I'm Hugh Grant and have no understanding of poverty - Its like you can only live in shit holes north of London
It kind of sends a shiver down my spine seeing the state of places now. These areas were never the best, but wow, they have gotten so much worse. The worst thing is, it is all over the country now. As much as I love the jokes on Turdtowns, it also highlights where we are heading socially and economically, and that is really sad.
The problems with Chatham started with the closure of the naval dockyard with the obvious knock on effect to the various ancillary services. A town enjoying near full employment suddenly had an employment rate of almost 25% overnight and it's never recovered.
Yes, the Navy also left Sheerness and the end of seaside holidays around the same time - 1960s - just killed it. Sheerness has been dying since then - I lived there when I was a kid - it's hell. - I left in 1996 and in the early 90s it was terrible...
The thing all these towns have in common is (1) the loss of industries that gave well paying employment, and (2) the destruction of the high streets by the authorisation of huge out of town shopping centres and supermarkets. I would argue the second trend was even more catastrophic than the first. Sheerness once had a steelworks, a chemical factory, and a buzzing commercial port that employed large numbers and paid very good wages. It wasn't a heaven-on-earth but most people had money to spend, there wasn't the poverty there is now. The Medway towns had many cement plants, a Royal dockyard that employed 30,000 people, many factories making road pavers, cement mixers, aircraft etc.; and in fact there is still quite a bit of employment in manufacturing in Medway, now mostly smaller businesses - I run one, and it is very hard to recruit labour, and wages for skilled people are rocketing. My home town of Gravesend was a buzzing retail centre that attracted shoppers from miles around, it had Marks, Debenhams, Argos, Woolworths, BHS, etc etc, now all gone; and once boasted as many as 52 pubs, remarkable for the size of population, again now only half still struggling on. Once the massive Bluewater and Lakeside shopping centres opened, and all the supermarkets were allowed to build big superstores outside the town that were more convenient for car parking, there was nothing to take people to the high street so shops started to close so it became even less attractive, and so followed vicious spiral downwards. That meant business rate revenue dropped so the Council had to put up the business rates, putting even more retailers out of business. You only have to walk around Bluewater and Lakeside, and talk to the retailers there about their stratospheric rents, to see that there is still PLENTY of money in retail - but it isn't going near the town centres any more, it's going into the pockets of the big corporations who own the shopping centres, and those of the four big supermarket chains who own their own properties. The blame for all of this must lay with the urban planners at the Council, and the local councillors who approved all of these out of town developments, they were too blind to see they were shoving a knife in the heart of the retailers that pay their rates. Having authorised this destruction, they are now starting to talk about "15 minute towns" where people can walk between home, work and shops - but that was what we used to have, before these short sighted idiot planners and politicians destroyed them! Until we finally recognise the evil social consequences of "out of town shopping" and close all these places, the towns will never be able to recover. Sadly, it won't happen due to vested interests. Disgusted of Gravesend!
Never knew Sheerness had a chemical works. I think Sittingbourne lost a lot of decent paying jobs too, though that's just about near enough to London for commuting.
A great summary - I totally agree. It's the big developers who have sucked the life out of our towns, and much of the developers' profits go abroad into tax havens. I often hear about local councillors getting backhanders for approving all these "developments" but I don't know how true that is.
You put it so well. And this pattern has been repeated in many towns across the UK. I visited Chatham last year and saw some last remnants of faded gentility. A place with a past to be proud of.
I used to live in Sheerness, but because I'm able to read and string a sentence together, I was able to leave. After a period of rehabilitation in which I learned the benefits of cutlery, shoes and toilet roll, I'm now a fully-functioning member of society.
And have your eyebrows become a pair, like normal people, or do you still have a monobrow, maybe one day that shipwreck, the Montgomery, will blow up and take Sheppy off the face of the planet, I was born in Margate and my home town is now a ghetto, but once, it was a very beautiful place, and I have heard that in Dover, they don’t wear Brogues, but that’s probably just a rumour, I live in Sandwich now, it’s a little town that has 4 level crossings and you can’t get out of there without having to go over one, and it’s always the one that has just come down and you can be there for ages, but we have a nice beach, which is privately owned by the rich barstards so you can’t go there, but it’s not far to go to Pegwell bay and it’s nice there, Ramsgate is ok if you can dodge the crack weasel’s, but on the whole, we have some good towns and some not so good towns, sandwich is of course a great place to live, if you don’t mind level crossings
I was born in Dartford and now live in Gravesend. Growing up there was very little unemployment, jobs in heavy industries were plentiful and life was good for most families. Now that those heavy industries have gone we are left with vast scars on the landscape, gravel and chalk pits, flooded pits now too dangerous to be anywhere near (Snodland and Ebbsfleet for example). North Kent has paid the price.
But Dartford's where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are from - and you also have Bluewater shopping center! Try coming over to Southend, there is nothing. We're screaming out for a flooded chalk pit!
@@bretton_woods Give me a break, good road and rail service, an airport and still a viable seaside resort with perhaps the longest pier ever! Chalk pits just sounds greedy.!
@@heisenberg1271 Benefits are so great? Someone on a basic single person's Universal Credit is on around one-fifth of someone on minimum wage. That's about 80 quid a week for all your electric, gas and food. Benefits have barely increased in 25 years... thanks to inflation it's actually a cut in "Real terms". Even if you included the housing element for rent costs that's still only about a third of minimum wage overall. If people on benefits look like they are loaded, lots of holidays etc., then chances are they are doing something dodgy! The vast majority of benefit claimants though are law-abiding and for those people yes it is a real genuine struggle to get by.
Also born in Dartford, and though in my yoof the employment was high with lots of decent jobs at Wellcome and Hall Thermotank, there was still quite a bit of violence and crime. I moved to Yorkshire to get the fuck away from the place, and when the factories closed (thanks Maggie!) the place went from mediocre dump to total shithole in the space of a couple of years.
It’s great knowing there are people out there who aren’t afraid to shine a light on the true extent of poverty and neglect in England. For the new year, I think it would be wise (and easier on your wallet) to keep tackling England and Wales. I can only imagine how expensive Scotland and Northern Ireland would be, if they are on your agenda of course. North of the border there are plenty of turdtowns in the Central Belt to get stuck into, particularly Ayrshire, the Clyde and Forth valleys. If you’re looking to continue Poshtowns, the Aberdeen region is full of them. Some advice though, it’s huge and a very long journey to get to, let alone travel around. Thanks for all your hard work man, have a Merry Christmas!
@@heisenberg1271clearly no idea of the benefits system then. If people were comfortable on benefits they wouldn't be using food banks and living in temporary accommodation or on the street. Wake up.
Yes but just stop simply judging a town by it's high street and surrounding few streets! Gillingham for example is a big area geographically, and has some nice parts too.
I've lived in several towns in Kent, and worked in Dartford, Gravesend and Chatham. Spent my early childhood in Sevenoaks, and my last abode was Eynsford. My memories of most Kentish towns are of sunny days and quaint villages and spectacular views. Mind you, this was nearly fifty years ago; luckily in 1980 I decided to emigrate to Vancouver, British Columbia, and now live in Kelowna, about 250 miles east. I can't tell you how glad I am that we left. That was the most depressing video I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work!!
Having visited a lot of places in Kent, I was fully expecting Gillingham to top the list being one of the most depressing towns I've ever visited, but after seeing and hearing about Sheerness, I don't think I'm surprised it came top despite having never visited personally. There's a lot of nice places in Kent particularly between Dover and Sussex.
Scrolled down to see where Sheerness ranked. Am a little surprised though that there's 6 towns on the Isle of Sheppey and only one made it. Maybe they couldn't stomach any more of the island after that.
@@katypreen9588 I've never been to Sheppey, but from what he was saying about the town wasn't surprised it was top, but before watching the video I would've put money on Gillingham being top of the list by far the worst town I've visited in Kent. Kent has a lot of nice towns especially on the south coast.
There's good places & bad places all over the UK. People say "oh Kent is posh" yet Medway reminds me of Glasgow. Kent isn't anything special. It's just a place like any other.
@@katypreen9588 I was surprised that Snodland didn't make the list. Or Tovill. Or Cuxton & Halling but the lad would probably have vanished if he went up that way.
@@katypreen9588 Yeah, I don't think he can have made it as far as Leysdown-on-Sea, which I admittedly haven't been to for about 20 years but which I found uniquely depressing to visit. Normally when I've visited a run-of-the-mill shithole, it's with a grim fascination but with Leysdown I remember leaving and thinking "my god...". But hey, maybe it's changed in the intervening couple of decades.
I used to live in Kent, and fully agree with this list. The Isle of Sheppey (also known as Fraggle Rock) has always been a shithole. I was surprised that Strood didn’t make the list though. After moving to Scotland, it made me realise I’d never really appreciated how bad the roads are in Kent. You just accept that it’s busy most of the time. Speaking of Scotland, I’d be interested to see a Central Belt edition of Turd Towns. Plenty of fodder for that!
I lived on Sheppey for years. I didn't know one of its nicknames was Fraggle Rock. I always used to hope it had blown up and sunk before I got back from holiday!
If you want to see terrible roads, come to (the mostly lovely) Herefordshire or Shropshire. Apparently it's always been like that because of the small population (apart from Telford) and large area, which means the roads always get underfunded. No excuse for Kent roads being bad though.
I grew up in Kent, Gillingham and Chatham, but lived in Rainham, i can still recognize some of the buildings on your video. I'm going back 50 years ago and was fortunate enough to have left for pastures greener overseas. Came back for a visit in 1997 and was quite horrified how both towns had deteriorated so badly, very depressing. Margate was always a happy place as a trip to Dreamland and all the rides was our best time. We holidayed in Jaywick (which I believe is now in shocking condition). Very sad. They were very happy childhood memories for me. I guess everything changes with time.
Jaywick is number two on the Essex list 😅 . You had the right idea to go overseas! Potholes and terrible nightmare traffic on M2 and M20 just adds to the stress of it all!
@@emmadeal1105 TBH we are also suffering from monster and many potholes, no working traffic lights, street lights that are on by day, but off at night time, everything has become a sh*tshow where we live now, but at at least we still have the right to criticse and b*tch and moan where we are, oh and the weather is great too. Crime is off the scale stupid, but we are tough as nails where we live and dont take kak (sh*t) At least we have plenty of parking spaces and we usually have anything from 2 - 10 garages for cars, but if we left them in the street, there would be nothing left of them, hence the need for lotsa garages. They tried toll gates here but everyone refused to pay for them, so the government wasted their, or should I say, our tax money on a load of old cobblers for naught. so civil disobedience does pay off occassionally, depends upon how you do it, we played the long game of no pay. The only thing I miss in the UK is all the history, beautiful castles, stately homes and old Norman churches and the amazing Westminister etc. oh and battenburg cake, we cant get that. But we do have some of the worlds most beautiful beaches, so its a trade off really, quite happy to stay where we are.
@@wendyburrows4178 gosh where do you live now .. towns are depressing aren't they, everybody shops online .. that's killed the high streets. It's all coffee shops, nail bars, vape shops and hair salons! At least you've got the warmth! I like tidy looking towns and cities, Lisbon is a fave of mine .. you get back here and think what a state.
@@emmadeal1105 Africa. all our towns (or high streets as you guys refer to them) all went to hell years ago, too dangerous to walk or go there, shopping malls are the only way to go here, we have limited on line shopping here, we certainly dont have all the on line shopping available like you've got in the UK and as our post office died about 10 years ago, you cannot receive anything by post, likely you will never receive it, or if its just a letter you might get it 4 months later (if you're lucky) or a couple of years later, as for parcels, they will never make it, it would be stolen immediately, so ordering from overseas is expensive as it must be couriered. So yes, the towns are filthy and very depressing, wouldnt go there if you paid me to. We still have an excellent quality of life here though, definitely better than anywhere in Europe, especially these days. We grew up learning to only rely on yourself for everything, (theres no dole or social housing here) it definitely makes life much easier to know that you have to make a plan for yourself, no one else is gonna do it, there is next to no public transport here (the railways collapsed years ago and you wouldnt want to get a train anyway, even if there was one), everyone here drives otherwise you wouldnt be able to get anywhere. Taxis are very expensive and buses almost non existent. We do have ubers. Being self reliant is the best way to be, that way you owe no one nothing. Britain sadly has made everyone reliant on the government in too many ways.
That huge building in Margate is not part of Dreamland or a council block. It is a privately owned residential block and one of the worst examples of post war brutalist architecture, despite being listed.
I had to stay in dartford for a week once in the 90's. I cant remember much from that decade, but how depressing dartford was is still very clear in my battered memory.
I have lived in Bexley, in this house, for 40 years and never stopped in Dartford and never had any inclination to look around. I passed through one or twice when The Dartford Tunnel approach roads were blocked. THat was fun..:)
The other problem with Kent is that developers are busy covering whatever open land they can find with ugly housing estates. The UK’s fertility rate is below replacement levels yet we’re fed the lie that there’s a “housing crisis” and we need to keep destroying the countryside.
@@SingularityMedia Yes, and the crisis is this: our countryside is being destroyed by ugly housing estates that we don’t need, and housing prices are inflated in large part because the government distorts the market by providing social housing.
Love that you’ve rinsed Margate. My boss has recently bought a holiday flat overlooking the beach here, and is constantly telling anyone who will listen how great Margate is. I took his advice a few summers ago and visited. Left within two hours. The ‘highlight’ of the visit was watching two teenagers lure a seagull by throwing chips so they could try and kick it, a shop keeper asking me to move my dog from outside their shop who was sat on the pavement whilst my wife was inside the shop, and two drug addicts screaming at eachother in a cafe. Horrid place. Just go to Whitstable!
There such pathos when I see the attempts of Councils trying to fight the decline with zero budget available. I can hear their meetings... "Why don't we have a statue of a local hero in the town square?" "What about a community coffee shop in the old Debenhams?". It's just tragic.
So sad to see how Margate has declined. I used to go there in the 80/90s, mainly to get to the great Bembon Brothers Amusement Park or Dreamland as it was known. Had some of the best days of my life there, specially the time the Mary Rose attraction got stuck upside down for nearly ten minutes with everyone's loose change, false teeth, glass eyes falling out and plummeting to the ground. It also had one of the best fish and chip shops anywhere. My dear Ma and my daughter loved it too. My highlight of Margate was driving home in a minibus full of people and kids in a torrential downpour. I was navigating. The Man I Loved was driving. We were minutes from driving into the sea at Whitstable before I realised those tail lights I could see were actually way across the bay on a cliff top... Have a look for Wonderful Life by Black - it has a beautiful video of Margate in its prime.
Still a great place to visit in summer. Arrive by bike on the coastal path. Quick dip at Walpole. Back to the promenade for amazing beer at Xylo. Then jump on the train home.
As bad as Margate may seem, it didn't really help things by filming it on a wet and out of season gray day. It all looks much different at the height of a busy Summer with the crowds and the sunshine. Have fond memories of Margate as a kid on our 2 week Summer holidays.
I always give Kent and Essex as examples as to why we need to resist developers trashing the countryside and increasing the local populations. Here in lovely Norfolk it’s just started to happen with noticeable traffic bottlenecks and quiet lanes now clogged with SUVs. I couldn’t believe the traffic in Kent and Essex. Took me ten minutes to cross a road in one small Kentish village. Unfortunately money will always talk and the concrete will be poured.
Thanks for telling it like it is. I kinda try to do this, but at my age I just get labelled as a 'grumpy old git'. You sound much younger than me, and reasonable and compassionate. Please keep up the good work. There is so much that needs to be put right in this country, and though it has it's truly glorious bits, most of it seems to be broken.
I live in Kent and have been asking you to do this for ages. Gravesend is horrible. I used to work there. It's been bad for 40 years. It's very rough at night too. Ramsgate is a lot better now than it was. It used to be really rough but has had a bit spent on it. Dover is really rough and has serious housing and crime issues and we all know what's causing it but can't say. I went to school in Dartford and worked there. It's issues are the decline of the high street. It died when the Marks and Spencer left and the Market was chased out. Gillingham is just a bit of a nothing. Not bad, not great. A lot of our recent arrivals end up here. Margate has been bad for years. It had a huge influx of recent arrivals and people from London relocated by the council's for available housing. Chatham has a late night prostitution issue to go along with its other issues. Sheerness is just terrible. No redeeming features at all to be honest. You nailed this video !!!!
Stop using the issue of poor investment into local infrastructure as an immigrant issue. I am deep in Somerset and the town of Weston Super Mare and many other places I saw in Devon had issues that were similar to Kent, irrespective of 'recent arrivals'. Don't use vulnerable people's plight to push a political agenda, that is so low. P.S. I'm a recent arrival who just pumped over 20K into the tax fund, and I work up to 6 days a week. It's horrible to read xenophobic shite on the one day off I have. Go figure. 🤷🏽♀️
Yeah, Kent is pretty bad. Ramsgate and Margate are both very rundown these days. Folkestone just another seaside town that looks terrible these days. Canterbury is pretty rough at a night, plus the high street redevelopment has made it lose a lot of its old character. The Isle of Sheppey was always pretty bad - but these days it's terrible. Chatham - the first time I went there in the mid 1990s, I went to the Pentagon shopping centre in the middle of the town and into the public toilets there - and I was shocked when I saw it had syringe bins in there for the drug addicts. Rochester has a big problem with prostitution at night. The Medway towns are all pretty bad. Dover has always been a bit of a dump - mainly because the only reason people go there is for the port, people don't really go into the town to spend the money into the local shops. I will also a lot of the small chocolate box type villages are also under threat, places like Ash and Wingham have lost their local pubs. There's also the mass house building that is going on in that area - it's destroying farmland and greenspaces everywhere - in what is supposed to be "the garden of England".
Do you mean that the last 3 years have caused such a drastic and terrible decline in Dover? Nope, of course not. But some people need to find some excuse to justify their own mistakes in their life.
No of course not. The issues are decades old. Under investment, bad financial management by the council and a ridiculous policy of importing people from London due to a lack of housing stock. That was never the answer, we need to build more houses.
Your comments are ill advised. You have no idea what the problems are in Kent due to the proximity of continental Europe and London councils. Your contribution of 20k to the exchequer is welcome but hardly trumps my £750k over a lifetime of contributions. I used the term recent arrival advisedly . The arrivals in the coastal towns of Kent are not all from abroad by from London as I explained. You are so anxious to be offended you missed that bit. You don't live near these issues and know little or nothing about it.
Grey houses, Grey weather, Grey pavements, Grey sofas, Grey carpets, Grey cars, Grey towels, Grey faces! How utterly depressing In these grey times! Well done for braving all that grey!
There are nice places in Kent and people should visit, I would recommend Broadstairs Canterbury Royal Tunbridge Wells Deal Hythe Sevenoaks (knole park) Sandwich Aylesford Shoreham Mote park (Maidstone) Wye Farthing common lookout Folkestone White cliffs walk Blean woods Tonbridge Chilham
The garden of England is a beautiful county. Always loved the Downs and Woods. Never far from the sea. Continental Europe is a relatively short drive away. The big problem is the wealth divide. I've never been to any county with such rich people in one town and such poverty in another. Like night and day between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Gillingham. Like two different worlds. Kind of sums up England in 2024 in a way.
I holidayed in Canterbury in 2022 and my advice is avoid, except as a day trip. It's handsome enough but the buses are useless in this largely pedestrianised city (I got around by taxi and shank's pony) and the pubs and restaurants mediocre. Despite what is said in this video, Ramsgate is more visitor friendly and easy on your legs, if not exactly posh.
Bang on about Margate. ITS A DUMP. The media like to try and portray it as a trendy, hipster place, full of artists because Tracey Emin is from here and the Turner Gallery was built here. I live up the coast in Herne Bay and visited 6 months ago. The town centre was full of boarded up shops and the streets were full of rubbish. The Old Town, where all the trendies supposedly live, is 2 streets of "galleries" and overpriced cafes.
@@yaboi672 it has a lovely beach. And arcades if you like that sort of thing. It's a shame as it could be great. Maybe all the london hipster type DFLs will improve it. I hope so.
You are an absolute savage, lol. I have said for a long time that Kent is not the garden of England but it's backside. You took it to the next level, love it.
There is a list above of many really pleasant areas in Kent to offset these holes and Leysdown isn't even on the list. lol I have had 40 fantastic years living right on the edge of S E London and Kent, since I moved from the heart of S E London,29 years ago.
I'm a regular rambler in Kent, and have to say that, despite the urban dereliction the rural areas are beautiful in spring, summer and autumn, with many charming 'olde-world' villages.
Kent has a problem of massive urban sprawl - meaning it only has small to mid size towns that don’t concentrate the residents on the local high street. Residents go to three different retail parks / other towns each shopping trip, thinning out their spend making each town centre vulnerable. Every local council keeps approving stupid fringe retail parks that suck life out of high streets and worsen traffic. They need to clean up town centres, build mansion style blocks and some taller, to concentrate people in town centres and get them focusing their spend and time in one place. Support it all with quality green spaces and community facilities and of course some doctors and dentists you can actually see. Until there is higher density and less sprawl, Kent will be on a decline.
It isn't hard to find boarded-up buildings in any town nowadays. Too many shops have shut because people don't go into town to shop anymore, they go online or they go to an out-of-town complex with acres of parking which is geared entirely to large chain stores. And yes, Bluewater may have contributed to the decline of nearby town centres but it was not the only reason; lots of the shops which have been boarded up were on their way out anyway.
I have lived, the London side within 10 miles of Bluewater and never visited to shop only twice to drop off and I see the attraction. Surrounding High Streets clogged with traffic, awkward parking and yer no real traffic around Bluewater and easy parking and,of course, every shop aligns with each other.
I m glad you rinsed Margate. I live here and ever since lockdown people have moved down from London. They ve partially gentrified it, but most of it is just shite. Because everywhere has graffiti and is dilapidated apparently that’s cool, and so house prices are ridiculous. At least there’s no way I can buy a house here and so it ll force me to move elsewhere
I was about to get really angry thinking you had missed sheerness and then there it was at number 1. What a relief. I used to deliver methadone, heroin substitute there and i couldn't wait to escape
Brilliant video! Just one error that I noticed - your crime rate and average house price shown for Gillingham, actually states 'Dartford'. Just as an aside, I'm not surprised that many of the comments are pointing the demise upon one particular reason - what a surprise! The fact is, having worked across Kent for 25 years (it was the County I covered as a salesman), this decline has been ongoing for DECADES....not just the past couple of years. I do wonder, how many people who moan about town centre shops closing, ever consider this fact when they are shopping online with Amazon, etc? Great video - keep up the brilliant work mate.
I agree about the Amazon comment; but when everyone's broke what do you do? Buy wherever is cheapest. And if that's Amazon because Retail is too expensive, boom. High Street decimated
Wasn’t surprised to find my town on here. Dartford traffic is absolutely appalling. You can hardly move on the roads thanks to the Dartford tunnel and the QEII bridge. Thanks to Bluewater Dartford Town Centre has mostly died off
Dartford was dying long before Bluewater. M&S Woolworths .Co-op was a very large department store on three floors and closed on Jan1st 2000. Plus parking in Dartford was difficult and many other specilist shops had also gone.. The roads I would agree with I live near Crayford and the roads are appaling most days due to the Dartford tunnnel.
@@paulcarter4429 Just shows Paul what a few miles make. I have lived on the Blackfen side of Danson Park in this house for 40 years since moving from S E London and the traffic isn't too bad at all. Knowing how I am very resistant to move if somewhere is ok, then I made 4 or 5 trips to the area at different times to ascertain traffic, possible developments, etc. before taking the plunge and leaving our Council Flat,11 miles away, just 2 miles from Central London. We even spent 90 minutes in our prospective new neighbour's house to see how well we would all get on:) Different times and they WERE really good neighbours:)
Dartford started to die when Bexleyheath opened its shopping centre back in the 1980s. Bluewater plus the traffic caused by the Dartford crossing has killed it off.
Happy Christmas Dude! I do enjoy a good Turdtowns episode. As much as going further afield would be nice, I'd save yourself some money until the better weather comes, and cover the top 8 Turdtowns in the rest of the Home Counties for now - Plenty of shitholes in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, etc...and reasonably easy to travel to. Once again, great content!
I've never been to Sheerness but if it's worse than Chatham it must be bloody horrible. Last time I was in Chatham I asked a woman in one of the shops if there were any nice pubs in town. She just laughed.
In the early 80s I went to college in Greenhithe, midway between Dartford and Gravesend, and before I even clicked on the video I suspected they'd both be on the list
I grew up in Ramsgate in the 70s and 80s and it was nice then, but I got out of Thanet in 1984 and rarely go back, when I have it is really sad to see the beach ruined and the shops decimated, inept local politicians have contributed to its decline, Margate was always terrible, a day trippers pit of horror. I’m surprised you missed off Maidstone, that is genuinely a horrific experience
Went to Ramsgate on a school trip circa 1978 aged 5!! It rained....Our teacher got us to collect seaweed for her garden...Lots of kids were sick on the coach...Happy to return to New Eltham!!
Agree with you, especially your comment on Maidstone ! I grew up just outside of this town in Allington during the 70's/80's. It was quite a nice place then. I moved away to Berkshire in the early 90's, but recently returned to Allington to care for my father. Maidstone is dreadful !! OMG !! Such a dump for a county town. Looks like not much has changed for the Medway towns though lol.
I moved to Chatham just short of 27 years ago, and have been happy here ever since, moving to a bigger home in the same town a couple of years ago. I knew it would be on this list, but was pleased at the positive points raised in particular.
Oh the Luton Arches are featured in this video, I live just around the corner and my home is adorable. Bought my house in 1999 for £ 26 000 . Have lived mortgage and rent free for 20 years, its paradise here, compared to the Tower Block I lived before in London. I fled to England escaping crime in Africa, white flight.
Chatham and Gillingham are not squeezed right up to the Thames .it is called the Medway towns because wait for it .....its around the river Medway!!! The clue is in the name.
I visited the UK many times and I aways had great times there (except one time when the weather was really bad). There used to be a ferry service between Sheerness and Flushing (Vlissingen in Dutch). Unfortunately this was terminated in 1994.
I live in Kent and I've just watched your video and I have this to say - everything you say is absolutely correct! I've been to all those places and was only in Gillingham a few weeks ago! (car service) Everything you've shown is as I know it! it sucks really how bad things are getting and a lot of the locals have just given up.
@@garyturner5739 Even without brexit things will likely have been worse anyway, Europe in itself is not doing very well currently, there's enough issues over there as well.
Has anyone else noticed the latest trend for towns to pave their pedestrian areas in depressing grey and black blocks. It really doesn't help the vibe of many of these places.
Excellent point. I was thinking exactly the same. Utterly devoid of character. Soulless, desolate, full of aggressive druggies. And nothing like the “artist’s impressions”. Usually topped off by some pointless sculpture costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Yes 100% Recently Canterbury has done it but didn"t estimate enough paving blocks so lots of " gaps" and "holes" for people and mobility scooters to fall or get stuck on.
@@lesskeels3417I've lived in four places. Maidstone, Southampton, Bedford and Macclesfield. Not exactly the most glamorous or inspiring list and yet Maidstone is by far and away the worst of the lot
In fifty years' time, after the apocalypse, when the world is a burning pit if radioactive waste, people will look back on these precious videos be shocked just how shit most of England was. Thank you for your service, Margaret, John, Tony, Dave and all the fuckwits that followed them.
There won't be any people after the apocalypse, let alone with memories to look back. Heavens forbid I am from Kent originally and luckily met my French wife there and we came to lovely France 50 years ago to live. I have never been back. I don't miss that crappy depressing climate or the junk food.
I’m surprised only two of the Medway towns made the list. Good to see you done a video in the south east. Unlike the your previous videos you a highlighting an area of the country that has both a geographic and economic advantage. Yet still has some extremely dire and depressed towns
Excellent, I've been waiting for my home county to get the Turdtowns treatment since I found the channel. I was shocked when Chatham was only in second but realised I'd forgotten Sheppey (I think most people try to forget about it). There are actually 3 prisons on the Isle of Sheppey and it's apparently where the 'alpha' variant of Covid came from. If you ever do a Lincolnshire video, I would be fascinated to know how Grimsby compares to other Turdtowns. I've travelled a lot in the UK and it's easily the most neglected place I've visited.
I've lived in Grimsby for the last 25 years. Suprisingly enough I moved here to find work and I found it, I've been gainly employed here for the last quarter of a century (although I now actually work from home.) Up until a year ago I thought this town was a hole - miserable people, low education, high unemployment, youth crime, drugs and a derelict town centre and high streets. Having watched Turdtowns now, I realise that these problems are not just in Grimsby, but affect the whole of the UK. Grimsby is no longer a shithole, it's just the same as every other small town in the UK. You can blame the death of the high street on out-of-town malls and internet shopping, you can blame youth crime and drug use on the lack of well-paid sustainable jobs and you could blame poor education levels on an education system that cares more about league tables than personal enrichment, but all of these combined factors are what's causing most of what you see in these videos. The next government has got it's work cut out.
Man, England is falling apart at the seams and councils think "ah just put a rainbow flag on it, job done". seeing rainbows juxtaposed against derelict town squares is just extra depressing
Well unless my eyesight is failing, I didn't see one 'rainbow flag' in any of these towns? Would you care to point out where they were? Moreover, I don't think I've noticed a rainbow flag in ANY of the Turd Towns covered in this entire series.....but hey, let's not let fact get in the way of your BS, rhetoric and agenda of hate! 😂
11:34 get down to specsavers mate, also drive around ol blighty more youll see rainbow flags absolutely everywhere. theres nothing hateful or political about pointing out rainbow flags are plastered about in depressing dumps you hypersensitive baby
@@BarryAllenMagic Are you possibly jumping the gun just a little? I read the OP's post as being an inditement of hollow virtue signalling and not tackling actual problems. Living in a crime-ridden, run-down dump with bad schools does not help minorities or vulnerable groups. Too often I see politicians talking the talking - but not walking the walk. We are meant to be mollified with flags and taking the knee etc. I don't think that seeing these gestures juxtaposed against broken towns and schools not fit for the purpose as 'extra depressing' can be fairly described as 'an agenda of hate'.
@BarryAllenMagic not to mention this is a tory area lmao, wonder why this country is going to hell. Oh I know! It's those immigrants and gays! Not the government over the past 13 years!
Honestly I want to but every time I try I realise im already behind schedule. It takes a very long time get around 8 towns. Winter filming hours are short too.
I moved to Kent 20 years ago from SE London. Whilst doing family research over time, I discovered that all my relatives were from Gravesend, something I had never known. They owned one of the breweries alongside the Thames. One of the ancient churches has windows dedicated to my ancestors & one was even the local Mayor!! They would be weeping if they could see Gravesend now. It's a dark ghostly shadow of how it was & I rarely go. So sad. There's good & bad areas everywhere in the UK. When you live in an area you know where to go & where to avoid. Kent also has some peaceful green spaces too & some lovely walks with interesting historical places. Just so sad that the towns have declined so much.
And it's going downhill fast. They keep renovating office blocks into flats which are bought up by. London councils who fill them up with feral gang members.... Which has pretty much been the story of. Kent for decades
RUBBISH. Maidstone is quite nice, got good shopping, nice big green open spaces (Mote Park), good restaurants (Gem of Kent is great), and you can reach most places within the county easily, like Tenterden, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Canterbury, even Chatham on this list here, which I think isn't really that bad. There are megabucks properties in King's Hill, not far away, a lot of American expats have houses there. Barming is also quite nice, just on the fringes of Maidstone. Crikey, if you really want to see one great big Turdtown, with lots of Turdboroughs, look no further than Greater London.......East Ham, Croydon, Hackney, Hornsey, Stratford, Brixton, the Isle of Dogs, and that's only to name the most obvious ones,
I’m originally from Kent born in Gravesend lived there till I was 6 ,I loved it .the road I spent my childhood in ,i heard all the houses were knocked down as it was so rough , it now has all new houses in its place .when I was a teenager I moved to isle of Sheppey with my parents lived there till I was 19 , I remember the great fair in sheerness the arcades ,all gone now , the pubs were good fun in the evening too . Sheppey school/Minster college was awful the teachers were terrible and felt I learnt nothing . We moved away in the late 90s to Cumbria , the town we moved to was awesome lots of night clubs and shops and close to the lakes too but has now gone right down hill ,hardly anything in the town ,loads of pubs and clubs and hotels gone just like most of the country’s towns , it’s a real shame what’s happening to these once great places
You ought to do a video on Essex turdtowns - it has a few!! Has some nice ones as well, which makes the contrast rather startling. Put it this way, I grew up in South Essex and people used to regularly take the Ferry across to shop in Gravesend because it was considered quite grand compared to Essex!
You beat me to it! I'm (sadly) also a native of South Essex and remember Gravesend being hyped in the 90s as a nice place to visit - but when the ferry is leaving from Tilbury, ANYWHERE is a nice place to visit. I'm sure Turdtowns could have a field day with Thurrock Council's bankruptcy being the largest ever on record, as well as being on the other side of that nasty crossing on the road to nowhere AND home to what was the largest shopping center in Europe when it opened. Just a shame Southend doesn't quite look as run down as it was in the 90s, though the pier still tries to off itself and self-combust every few years, which isn't surprising since it's stuck in Southend for its entire existence.
Also from south Essex. I remember Basildon and Shenfield being Shitholes. Maldon has the worst high street I’ve been on and the roads into Chelmsford are harder to cross than the Berlin Wall. I moved to West Yorkshire and never looked back!
@@procrastination_productions You can't forget Tilbury - this was looked on as a dangerous place even in the 60s! I grew up in Grays, which has had the stuffing knocked out of it by the opening of Lakeside, and even the nicer areas are now filthy, rundown and litter-strewn - and the houses are still worth a fortune! Further afield Southend and Clacton have their very seedy spots, and whilst I used to quite like Chelmsford (haven't been for decades), I always had a problem with Colchester - there always seemed to be an air of menace about the place - even during the day time! You escaped to W Yorks, I'm on Teesside, and sometimes even Teesside is more inviting than South Essex!
@@procrastination_productions Yep, all great suggestions - The Army and Navy flyover in Chelmsford always looked like it would fall down in a light breeze. Shoutouts to Corringham, Stanford, Tilbury, Grays, Ockendon, Aveley, and Purfleet for being some real turds of south Essex. Special mention for Brentwood for giving the world TOWIE and utterly destroying what little pride people could have in the name of Essex.
Excellent, I've visited or commuted through some of these place when working in the construction industry. I got a little worried as the list went on, but you didn't disappoint, you put Sheerness on top spot. It doesn't even have a direct rail service to London. Another area is the Isle Of Grain. I feel sorry for anyone who lives on that desolate and isolated spit of land.
How come you missed out Trashford, sorry, Ashford? Maybe Councils will realise one day (When it's too late) that out of town shopping centres kill the real town centres. It happened at Trashford when they built "The Designer Outlet" and moved the Market too Bluewater did it for Dartford, Gravesend, Chatham & Gillingham to a certain extent. Westwood certainly messed up Ramsgate and Margate. Dover?? We all know what's messed that place up. Good video though.
I love in Ashford. To be honest, it's not that bad. Good places to eat, and shop. Lots of places to work. Town centre is a bit pants though. Easy access to lovely countryside is a plus.
I moved here some 23 years ago, not really a choice as it was affordable. To be honest I still rather like it. Maybe it grows on you like mould. I also remember it from the early 80,s and the change for the better is simply amazing. It's still not Canterbury mind you!
I once dated a girl from Orpington. I spent one Christmas with her parents, and was pleasantly suprised by how nice it was. She took me to Bluewater, which was a great shopping experience, although kind of stressful to drive to.
@@GrahamMacdonald-w9o Within one aside of working in Orpington. I got the job in 1991/92 and as I was about to leave, having agreed terms,my prospective Boss told me that he was off to the Caribbean and being new to the Business,I changed my mind and the whole course of my life:)
So many beautiful places in Kent. Faversham, Whitstable, Canterbury and many pretty villages.You are doing a disservice to Kent. Dover has the castle and a museum. Canterbury is a beautiful city with the famous Cathedral. Lots of beautiful castles and gardens.
I lived in the heart of S E London and many of us had caravans in Seasalter(us) Whitstable and Herne Bay etc and that is MY part of Kent but we had to get off the caravan site in 1971 so over 50 years ago. In fact, 40 years ago I moved from the heart of S E London to Bexley because that was a coach stop on the way to our caravan that we visited about 11 weeks in the year including all 7 weeks of school holidays. The 1960s were idyllic "Darling Buds Of May" years 🤩
I grew up in Kent and hiked the whole coast earlier this year. Gravesend is grim, I totally agree. Miserable and dank, but the Fort is worth a look. Ramsgate is much better than it used to be. And like you say the Marina (and beach) are pretty nice, especially in summer. Dover is another place that could be much better and steps are being taken to improve it. The town centre's grotty. The castle and gaol are fantastic, as are the white cliffs. Dartford, bland and forgettable. Yeah you nailed it there. Ah, Gillingham, the team I support. Voted by many as the worst 'away day' in the country. It is depressing and does feel like a poor London overspill. Growing up on the Isle of Sheppey, I used to think Margate was like California 😂 yeah, it's pretty bad. Used to be much better. There's a few things to do and out of the town centre is much nicer and there's some great buildings and beaches. Chatham is rough and always has been. The birthplace of the word 'chav'. Wow, my hometown is number 1 🤦♂️ well, technically I grew up in Minster, but still. I did my secondary education off the island though 😂 that dog shit alley is grim. The truth is, nobody goes into the town centre anymore. Out of town retail parks or 'off the island' is where people do their shopping and socialising now
You should really do a whole episode on Sheppey....Its a notoriously terrible island...It has improved slightly now there is a permanent bridge. Previously there was a draw bridge that if it was raised meant the local police couldn't get onto the island to help!!! Also a fun fact : Some Motgers Do Av Em was based on Sheppey with Frank as a typical local!!!😅😅😅😅
@@retiredbore378 I think most people are not ready for radical change, and they thought they'd be less discriminated against in MH. people want to fit in and want to avoid their kids getting bullied at school. I kinda understand that transition.
When I first started driving I hated roundabouts too, but now I know how to drive I love how they keep traffic moving and reduce jams. Come back when you've been driving for a few years and you'll love Kent. Edit: There's a lot of green space in Medway too. Plenty of parks and places where you can go from the town centre to wilderness in a matter of minutes like Cuxton and the Lines Edit 2: Pocahontas there's a f**king monument at her grave it's by the river
Great video - I grew up near Gravesend and went to school in Dartford. This was 30 odd years ago, these places were even worse then. You missed out the delightful Swanscombe and Greenhithe, it's basically the scruffy bit of Gravesend and Dartford. Although I've moved away I now live in South Yorkshire. The Turdtowns of Kent are heaven on earth compared with the likes of Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley. I really suggest you need to do an episode in South Yorkshire, in fact you could probably do a whole series, in order to add to the credibility of the Turdtowns brand.
During 9/11 someone in Chatham heard that The Pentagon had been attacked and hoped it was the shopping centre which had needed razing to the ground for years. Grew up around Medway, got the hell out 18 years ago for Australia where things are still trying to kill you but they generally aren't human. Solid list, particularly sad about the decline of Margate, loved visiting back when it was booming.
I was actually inside Chatham Pentagon and a workman had a transistor radio on announcing the Twin Tower being struck by a plane. Went home switched on TV just in time to see live Tower 2 struck. 2001.
My sister went on an exchange trip to Germany with her school in the late 1970s. They went by ferry from Sheerness and I remember her saying it was a dump even then.
Thank you for the honest appraisal of my home county. It's a big old area and certainly one of haves and have-nots. Chatham could easily be a nice place but would need investment and a bit of vision. The seaside towns will always struggle with unemployment and drugs.
Woooo! Sheermess Numba Waaaan! Still got happy memories of visiting family there as a kid though. Absolutely loved the massive park/sandpit they have there.
Another great video, I’ve lived in Kent for nearly 20 years and would have picked the same 8 but added Maidstone and Ashford as a pair of overrated junkie filled hell holes. Sheerness was the obvious number 1 it’s tragic. The traffic in Kent is beyond ridiculous - it feels like you’re trapped by congestion and it’s 10 times worse since Brexit which was ironically and u fathomably supported in Kent - a county that relies on trade and travel with mainland Europe. 🤯
Your comment is ironic because when we joined The E E C in 1973 it was just a Trade deal with 6 affluent Countries. The E U with its 28 states became something completely different. If the Trade is much;less Post Brexit then how is the traffic 10 times worse?
@@petewelsh9978 Well only in this house for 40 years. lol To be fair, although my address is a Kent one,I am, literally,on the border of S E London and Kent in Bexley and my life means,I can, easily,avoid traffic as I have no need to go out during school runs or rush hours and know all the back streets as I am 69 years old. I know it is deceptive but I got home from Millwall last night in 21 minutes once I reached my car.
I live in Medway and I think you were very kind in your description of Chatham. Most people I know avoid the high street. It says a lot about society when you see these failing areas.
I can't believe you have put Gravesend below Dartford as someone who lives in the area, lots of your critique of Dartford is gone if you use the train, takes 35 mins to get to London Bridge. Good video anyways, keep it up!
You missed Sheerness’s one saving grace… The SS Richard Montgomery that went down just off the Sheerness coast with 1500 tons of explosives in the WW2. It’s said if it goes up it will take out most of the Island of Sheppy…. And most of the the north Kent coat!!😮 Great video by the way! 👍
As a kent resident I agree with most of this. I will just say that the listed building in Margate may be somewhat hideous, but it is somewhat cuclturally important as a remnant concrete architecture. Also isle of sheppey, you missed leysdown. That is a place I will never forget!
Little did I realize 30 years ago that when my 70-year old Mum was unwell and I could, barely, move with Gout and our dog accompanied us to the local Pharmacist all clinging to each other and limping along, that was going to be the highlight of my week's holiday in Leysdown...
My mum grew up there 50 years ago and this was fantastic. Thank you for posting! It looks as gorgeous as ever good memories! All the locals complaining in the comment section are hilarious. Don’t be grumpy
For future visits, Essex would be worth a look. Some nice villages in the north of the county; Dedham, Langham, and Ardleigh, and Battlesbridge to name a few. In constant, you have awful towns like Southend, Basildon, Thurrock, and Colchester.
My daughter lives in Wivenhoe in Essex, quite close to Colchester. I'm surprised that Colchester is an 'awful' town, as I am quite impressed with it whenever I go there with her and my grandson. There is a lot of history there, and not a lot of visible dereliction.
I knew Sheerness would be #1! I used to travel through there regularly when there were ferries to Vlissingen (Olau Line, lovely ships). There was also the Sheerness Steelworks, gone now. Much later I discovered that my grandfather was born in Sheerness. His father had come down from the North East to work as shipwright in the Royal Dockyard, also now gone.
As a Kent native, I can agree the list was spot-on. Its hard to pick just 10 towns since Strood, Folkestone, Ashford could have made the list. So many traditional, historical towns have rotted away due to poverty, antisocial behaviour, non-assimilating immigration, overcrowding and so on. But Kent as a county still has a lot to offer - beaches, countryside, historical sites, shopping and close links to London making the county somewhere that, despite its problems, people will always want to live in.
I do have a soft spot for Margate as I always holidayed in Cliftonville as a kid and I do visit once a year on a coach trip. It is a strange mix of shops, either overpriced retro shops or a mainly boarded up High Street. Nice beach though.
as a Margate local and lover I implore you to come in the summer! yes there's some run down buildings and it's dominated by Londoners, but there's bars, art galleries, loads of activities and things to do, it's busy and full of life and it's a great time, I really like it here
Comedian Mark Steel once remarked that Swanley in Kent was the worst place in the world to grow up in, before Linda Smith countered with "Well you've never been to Erith then".
@@will_n775 I have had 40 fantastic years in this house next to Danson Park(Cheap side) and at 69 will never move. We had/have 76 Open Spaces within a 7 mile radius.
@@will_n775 Footscray Meadows 245 Acres,Danson Park 185 Acres and neat Oxleas Woods, Avery Hill, Eltham Park North and South,Hall Place, and Scudbury Park are all within 3 miles and Beautiful and I have had 40 wonderful years here:)
What a load of Garbage. We've lived in Margate for 12 years, are mortgage free, lovely beach, lovely air, lovely people and we wouldn't live anywhere else. Those of us that actually live here today know the real truth. You're just running down any town in your country you can think of, in the quest for so called "entertainment"
I was born in Kent and lived there until I was 25. Then I left the country and haven't looked back since. Seeing this video only reaffirms my life choices. Kent does have some lovely towns and villages, if you have the money to live there though......
Kent remains a beautiful, mainly rural county despite the pockets of urban dereliction, which is happening throughout the country, due to factors that have already been described.
I lived in Kent for just over a year and travelled around most towns regularly, all the towns mentioned are very grim and disgusting however ive never felt more unsafe than I did in Ashford.
What about Ashford ? What a dump. I moved away 20 years ago, came back recently and couldn't believe it. Nothing but expensive houses and a dead high st.
*River Medway not The River Thames* my bad!
The Kent Tourism Board will dislike this video and refuse to endorse it.
@@NihilisticHedonism I’m sure all the other councils endorsed my videos 😂
I would become depressed just by visiting some of the places you've been to let alone living there.@@Turdtowns
I’m more disappointed that you didn’t mention Rochester loosing its city status due to an admin error.
5:13 Also Dover isn't famous for the channel tunnel, since it's not in Dover, but Folkestone.
Jokes aside can we all see an emerging pattern here. Most of England's once glorious towns have now entered a period of demise. Councils going bankrupt, not enough police and certainly not on the streets. Decrepit shopping precincts, failing public services....the list goes on. All the wealth from this country has been hoovered up but corporations and the elite. Not much hope on the horizon.
In a word.. Neoliberalisme.
It's all going to plan, and bizarrely people keep voting for it.
Yeah but immigrants.
been thinking same for a while. More a social economic recording of the effects of where we are on local places and people after all that’s happened
@@Meddled
Yes, the tories and their friends are making fortunes from re placement, they tax borrow and print, then funnel it to their friends.
Yes, it's a similar story all over. They've gone and mined-out the resources that once sustained the High street, and still think they can squeeze it more. Town planners and sociology experts need reeducation urgently.
I grew up in the Medway Towns and the best way I can put it is this:
When I watch movies about asteroids hitting the earth and wiping out humanity, I always grin and think of the Medway Towns.
The river banks are covered by toxic sludge, when they shut down Chatham Dockyards and all the armed forces moved away the economy tanked, and there is a rotting WWII ammunition ship , the SS Richard Montgomery, sunk off the coast of Sheerness. It has 1400 tonnes of unexploded munitions in the hold and if the ship ever gets rammed, half of the Isle of Sheppey will be vapourised by a 1.4 megaton explosion.
Apparently to this day, you can sometimes spot locals staring out to sea with a wistful look on their face, hoping that the collision will finally come.
😂😂😂
1.4 kiloton
😂😂😂😂😂😂 you are hilarious. You have the same sentiments someone once upon a time had towards Slough, so much so that a poem came of it 😅😅
Lol.
@@tinachristine4573 sl OUGH!
There shouldn't be one food bank in a country like the UK. The very fact that they exist shows appalling failure of government to provide for and care for it's citizens.
@ Graeme, it is not the job of the government to provide for you, it’s your responsibility to sort your own life out 🤦♀️🤦♀️ the corrupt Government is out of control and becoming more authoritarian by the week -
Very true. There especially shouldnt be any food banks whilst the RF live in the lap of luxury (for free) at the expense of the tax payer.
They are political.
Now! That is very true
according to the Tories, food banks show how wonderful and charitable we all are. World-beating spin! And they use "levelling up" because they think it appeals to the 18-30 demographic (they play games, games have "levels" .. ) yes they think that little of people.
I'm glad you've shined a light on how much of a dump certain parts of here in Kent are. I get sick and tired of the media always portraying the South East as rolling in money. When in fact the North West and Eastern parts of the county are pretty destitute.
It's crazy how people think the roads down south are paved with gold
We relocated to the north, and I was genuinely asked if Kent had pot holes in the road
The perception from outside the UK is that Kent is/was until Turdtowns, lovely. I shit you not.
The garden of England, they call it. Basically the entire place is rolling hills and a land of milk and honey
The only thing really separating it from the North is proximity to London and the good jobs.
Dartford, Gravesend and Chatham were decimated by the opening of Bluewater in 1999. I was a native of Medway and the shops in Chatham High Street used to have an excellent range of amenities, the huge building past the Pentagon Centre used to be an Allders in the old days. There was also a BHS, Marks and Spencers where Primark is and a Co-op. All in the past now. You should have taken a walk down Luton Road underneath the arches at the top of the High Street, that would have been an eye opener(you probably wouldn't have had your camera very long though).
Additional, should really have mentioned this originally but Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey was home to the worlds first cargo flight when aviator John Moore Brabazon flew a pig in a basket across a field.
Luton road being appropriate as Luton is one of the ultimate turdtowns.
Not that Gravesend was in a great place to begin with. It used to be a major shipping hub, until containerisation happened and ships got bigger, so all the ships moved to Dartford. That leaves Gravesend with not a lot of business activity.
@@cjmillsnun yeah, Luton is only known due to being a place where real English people are in the bloody minority! That is sad.
I remember getting dragged around Allders in Chatham as a kid. And Rochester market for what seemed like an eternity.
Blimey, I forgot about Allders! That was like the posh department store for us Sheppey folk on our day out shopping in Chatham 🤣
I lived in Ramsgate for 35 years and although it has the usual economic problems faced by UK seaside towns, the things I will always remember it for is how fresh and pure the air is, being surrounded on three sides by the sea and with no polluting heavy industry nearby, and how even on the hottest Summer day there was always a cooling and refreshing breeze coming in from the sea.
I was also from Ramsgate, born there, generations of us. I loved growing up there. However I recently visitied and was saddened to see how run down it has become, yes the front is nice, but on the whole it has become a demilitarised zone. Change is not always a good thing!
Really friendly people in Ramsgate, driving ,you make a mistake there's no obvious road rage, and people seem to apologise for non issues, someone thinks they've stepped in your path whilst walking ,they apologise --- no need just ultra polite.
I once lived in Margate and owned a large victorian mansion 3 minutes away from the sea front and in the course of 5 years it became a crime ridden shole along with quite a few local murders and junkies roaming the streets helped along by the local churches who fed these people after they wasted all thier dole money on drugs " we used to have a month where the council would collect unwanted items and that used to attract many to go through the items we put out scattering everything across the pavement and Rd and the hmos existed everywhere full of junkies or pedophiles as the last year there we were also burgled which made our minds up to get away from margate as it was once a lovely place but now destroyed by corrupt councils and businesses obtaining grants for improvements and then selling the assets as all I see now is London money and arty farty crap trying to polish a turd called margate .
I love Ramsgate, had brief holidays there each of the last three years. It could do with more bed & breakfast options and a decent Chinese restaurant. However the attraction as a cider lover is two great micro pubs and the biggest Wetherspoon in Britain, plus the harbour has real character. Visited nearby Margate on a day trip, rather nondescript.
@@bobmitchell3653 The overspill of refugees and the homeless from London
Kent lad here. Thank you for proving that the garden of England was concreted over long ago. I'm sick of being judged as "posh" or "lucky" for being born there. There's some real shitholes & even the "attractions" are crap.
Btw one of the streets you filmed in Gravesend is where I used to get the bus with my Nan. It was buzzing back then. Shocking to see how it is now. Also there used to be a plaque which narrowed down the approximate location of Pochahontas' grave.
Totally agree runlarryrun. People don't understand what it's really like .
@runlarryrun77 I love there currently and it's really drab. Town especially is just full of scum.
Yeah, whenever I ever meet a Northerner they act like I'm Hugh Grant and have no understanding of poverty - Its like you can only live in shit holes north of London
Some wonderful countryside in Kent, it's certainly not all been covered up. Get yourself out there mate. Got it's shitholes like everywhere doesm
It kind of sends a shiver down my spine seeing the state of places now. These areas were never the best, but wow, they have gotten so much worse. The worst thing is, it is all over the country now. As much as I love the jokes on Turdtowns, it also highlights where we are heading socially and economically, and that is really sad.
That's what u get when authorities n gov. concentrate on looking after illegal immigrants n spend millions on em. Go figure - result = SHITE !
The problems with Chatham started with the closure of the naval dockyard with the obvious knock on effect to the various ancillary services. A town enjoying near full employment suddenly had an employment rate of almost 25% overnight and it's never recovered.
Yes. Well said.
Yes, the Navy also left Sheerness and the end of seaside holidays around the same time - 1960s - just killed it. Sheerness has been dying since then - I lived there when I was a kid - it's hell. - I left in 1996 and in the early 90s it was terrible...
Same with Sheerness. When they closed the steel Mill it had a massive effect
The thing all these towns have in common is (1) the loss of industries that gave well paying employment, and (2) the destruction of the high streets by the authorisation of huge out of town shopping centres and supermarkets. I would argue the second trend was even more catastrophic than the first.
Sheerness once had a steelworks, a chemical factory, and a buzzing commercial port that employed large numbers and paid very good wages. It wasn't a heaven-on-earth but most people had money to spend, there wasn't the poverty there is now. The Medway towns had many cement plants, a Royal dockyard that employed 30,000 people, many factories making road pavers, cement mixers, aircraft etc.; and in fact there is still quite a bit of employment in manufacturing in Medway, now mostly smaller businesses - I run one, and it is very hard to recruit labour, and wages for skilled people are rocketing. My home town of Gravesend was a buzzing retail centre that attracted shoppers from miles around, it had Marks, Debenhams, Argos, Woolworths, BHS, etc etc, now all gone; and once boasted as many as 52 pubs, remarkable for the size of population, again now only half still struggling on.
Once the massive Bluewater and Lakeside shopping centres opened, and all the supermarkets were allowed to build big superstores outside the town that were more convenient for car parking, there was nothing to take people to the high street so shops started to close so it became even less attractive, and so followed vicious spiral downwards. That meant business rate revenue dropped so the Council had to put up the business rates, putting even more retailers out of business. You only have to walk around Bluewater and Lakeside, and talk to the retailers there about their stratospheric rents, to see that there is still PLENTY of money in retail - but it isn't going near the town centres any more, it's going into the pockets of the big corporations who own the shopping centres, and those of the four big supermarket chains who own their own properties.
The blame for all of this must lay with the urban planners at the Council, and the local councillors who approved all of these out of town developments, they were too blind to see they were shoving a knife in the heart of the retailers that pay their rates. Having authorised this destruction, they are now starting to talk about "15 minute towns" where people can walk between home, work and shops - but that was what we used to have, before these short sighted idiot planners and politicians destroyed them! Until we finally recognise the evil social consequences of "out of town shopping" and close all these places, the towns will never be able to recover. Sadly, it won't happen due to vested interests.
Disgusted of Gravesend!
Never knew Sheerness had a chemical works. I think Sittingbourne lost a lot of decent paying jobs too, though that's just about near enough to London for commuting.
@@chrismanners9091 Sheppey Glue and Chemical Works was well known when I was young.
A great summary - I totally agree. It's the big developers who have sucked the life out of our towns, and much of the developers' profits go abroad into tax havens. I often hear about local councillors getting backhanders for approving all these "developments" but I don't know how true that is.
Excellent summary 👏
You put it so well. And this pattern has been repeated in many towns across the UK. I visited Chatham last year and saw some last remnants of faded gentility. A place with a past to be proud of.
I used to live in Sheerness, but because I'm able to read and string a sentence together, I was able to leave. After a period of rehabilitation in which I learned the benefits of cutlery, shoes and toilet roll, I'm now a fully-functioning member of society.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And have your eyebrows become a pair, like normal people, or do you still have a monobrow, maybe one day that shipwreck, the Montgomery, will blow up and take Sheppy off the face of the planet, I was born in Margate and my home town is now a ghetto, but once, it was a very beautiful place, and I have heard that in Dover, they don’t wear Brogues, but that’s probably just a rumour, I live in Sandwich now, it’s a little town that has 4 level crossings and you can’t get out of there without having to go over one, and it’s always the one that has just come down and you can be there for ages, but we have a nice beach, which is privately owned by the rich barstards so you can’t go there, but it’s not far to go to Pegwell bay and it’s nice there, Ramsgate is ok if you can dodge the crack weasel’s, but on the whole, we have some good towns and some not so good towns, sandwich is of course a great place to live, if you don’t mind level crossings
You'll always be swampy 😂😂😂
I was born in Dartford and now live in Gravesend. Growing up there was very little unemployment, jobs in heavy industries were plentiful and life was good for most families. Now that those heavy industries have gone we are left with vast scars on the landscape, gravel and chalk pits, flooded pits now too dangerous to be anywhere near (Snodland and Ebbsfleet for example). North Kent has paid the price.
But Dartford's where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are from - and you also have Bluewater shopping center! Try coming over to Southend, there is nothing. We're screaming out for a flooded chalk pit!
@@bretton_woods Give me a break, good road and rail service, an airport and still a viable seaside resort with perhaps the longest pier ever! Chalk pits just sounds greedy.!
@@heisenberg1271 Benefits are so great? Someone on a basic single person's Universal Credit is on around one-fifth of someone on minimum wage. That's about 80 quid a week for all your electric, gas and food. Benefits have barely increased in 25 years... thanks to inflation it's actually a cut in "Real terms".
Even if you included the housing element for rent costs that's still only about a third of minimum wage overall.
If people on benefits look like they are loaded, lots of holidays etc., then chances are they are doing something dodgy! The vast majority of benefit claimants though are law-abiding and for those people yes it is a real genuine struggle to get by.
Also born in Dartford, and though in my yoof the employment was high with lots of decent jobs at Wellcome and Hall Thermotank, there was still quite a bit of violence and crime. I moved to Yorkshire to get the fuck away from the place, and when the factories closed (thanks Maggie!) the place went from mediocre dump to total shithole in the space of a couple of years.
I ,'ve lived some months in Dartford and it seemed a nice place to me
It’s great knowing there are people out there who aren’t afraid to shine a light on the true extent of poverty and neglect in England. For the new year, I think it would be wise (and easier on your wallet) to keep tackling England and Wales. I can only imagine how expensive Scotland and Northern Ireland would be, if they are on your agenda of course. North of the border there are plenty of turdtowns in the Central Belt to get stuck into, particularly Ayrshire, the Clyde and Forth valleys. If you’re looking to continue Poshtowns, the Aberdeen region is full of them. Some advice though, it’s huge and a very long journey to get to, let alone travel around. Thanks for all your hard work man, have a Merry Christmas!
Cumbernauld is the worst town in the country
@@heisenberg1271clearly no idea of the benefits system then. If people were comfortable on benefits they wouldn't be using food banks and living in temporary accommodation or on the street. Wake up.
@@llanieliowe794honestly of the HMRC
Yes but just stop simply judging a town by it's high street and surrounding few streets! Gillingham for example is a big area geographically, and has some nice parts too.
I've lived in several towns in Kent, and worked in Dartford, Gravesend and Chatham. Spent my early childhood in Sevenoaks, and my last abode was Eynsford.
My memories of most Kentish towns are of sunny days and quaint villages and spectacular views. Mind you, this was nearly fifty years ago; luckily in 1980 I decided to emigrate to Vancouver, British Columbia, and now live in Kelowna, about 250 miles east. I can't tell you how glad I am that we left. That was the most depressing video I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work!!
You have to be insane to remain in this country.
True, but the winters are too harsh up there
Not where I live pal. Just got to get used to forest fires and the odd cold snap. Minus 22 today. !!!
Having visited a lot of places in Kent, I was fully expecting Gillingham to top the list being one of the most depressing towns I've ever visited, but after seeing and hearing about Sheerness, I don't think I'm surprised it came top despite having never visited personally. There's a lot of nice places in Kent particularly between Dover and Sussex.
Scrolled down to see where Sheerness ranked. Am a little surprised though that there's 6 towns on the Isle of Sheppey and only one made it. Maybe they couldn't stomach any more of the island after that.
@@katypreen9588 I've never been to Sheppey, but from what he was saying about the town wasn't surprised it was top, but before watching the video I would've put money on Gillingham being top of the list by far the worst town I've visited in Kent. Kent has a lot of nice towns especially on the south coast.
There's good places & bad places all over the UK. People say "oh Kent is posh" yet Medway reminds me of Glasgow.
Kent isn't anything special. It's just a place like any other.
@@katypreen9588 I was surprised that Snodland didn't make the list. Or Tovill. Or Cuxton & Halling but the lad would probably have vanished if he went up that way.
@@katypreen9588 Yeah, I don't think he can have made it as far as Leysdown-on-Sea, which I admittedly haven't been to for about 20 years but which I found uniquely depressing to visit.
Normally when I've visited a run-of-the-mill shithole, it's with a grim fascination but with Leysdown I remember leaving and thinking "my god...".
But hey, maybe it's changed in the intervening couple of decades.
Chatham isn’t by the Thames, it’s the River Medway….hence the term Medway towns.
I used to live in Kent, and fully agree with this list. The Isle of Sheppey (also known as Fraggle Rock) has always been a shithole. I was surprised that Strood didn’t make the list though.
After moving to Scotland, it made me realise I’d never really appreciated how bad the roads are in Kent. You just accept that it’s busy most of the time.
Speaking of Scotland, I’d be interested to see a Central Belt edition of Turd Towns. Plenty of fodder for that!
stroods saving grace is that they can look at rochester across the river
I lived on Sheppey for years. I didn't know one of its nicknames was Fraggle Rock. I always used to hope it had blown up and sunk before I got back from holiday!
Bathgate is a good candidate for turdtown.
It Has plenty of competition though,a truly depressing place.
Hahaha! Fraggle Rock used to be prison slang for the psychiatric wing. But it fits well here!
If you want to see terrible roads, come to (the mostly lovely) Herefordshire or Shropshire. Apparently it's always been like that because of the small population (apart from Telford) and large area, which means the roads always get underfunded.
No excuse for Kent roads being bad though.
I grew up in Kent, Gillingham and Chatham, but lived in Rainham, i can still recognize some of the buildings on your video. I'm going back 50 years ago and was fortunate enough to have left for pastures greener overseas. Came back for a visit in 1997 and was quite horrified how both towns had deteriorated so badly, very depressing.
Margate was always a happy place as a trip to Dreamland and all the rides was our best time. We holidayed in Jaywick (which I believe is now in shocking condition). Very sad. They were very happy childhood memories for me.
I guess everything changes with time.
Jaywick is number two on the Essex list 😅 . You had the right idea to go overseas! Potholes and terrible nightmare traffic on M2 and M20 just adds to the stress of it all!
@@emmadeal1105 TBH we are also suffering from monster and many potholes, no working traffic lights, street lights that are on by day, but off at night time, everything has become a sh*tshow where we live now, but at at least we still have the right to criticse and b*tch and moan where we are, oh and the weather is great too. Crime is off the scale stupid, but we are tough as nails where we live and dont take kak (sh*t) At least we have plenty of parking spaces and we usually have anything from 2 - 10 garages for cars, but if we left them in the street, there would be nothing left of them, hence the need for lotsa garages. They tried toll gates here but everyone refused to pay for them, so the government wasted their, or should I say, our tax money on a load of old cobblers for naught. so civil disobedience does pay off occassionally, depends upon how you do it, we played the long game of no pay. The only thing I miss in the UK is all the history, beautiful castles, stately homes and old Norman churches and the amazing Westminister etc. oh and battenburg cake, we cant get that. But we do have some of the worlds most beautiful beaches, so its a trade off really, quite happy to stay where we are.
@@wendyburrows4178 gosh where do you live now .. towns are depressing aren't they, everybody shops online .. that's killed the high streets. It's all coffee shops, nail bars, vape shops and hair salons! At least you've got the warmth! I like tidy looking towns and cities, Lisbon is a fave of mine .. you get back here and think what a state.
@@emmadeal1105 Africa. all our towns (or high streets as you guys refer to them) all went to hell years ago, too dangerous to walk or go there, shopping malls are the only way to go here, we have limited on line shopping here, we certainly dont have all the on line shopping available like you've got in the UK and as our post office died about 10 years ago, you cannot receive anything by post, likely you will never receive it, or if its just a letter you might get it 4 months later (if you're lucky) or a couple of years later, as for parcels, they will never make it, it would be stolen immediately, so ordering from overseas is expensive as it must be couriered. So yes, the towns are filthy and very depressing, wouldnt go there if you paid me to. We still have an excellent quality of life here though, definitely better than anywhere in Europe, especially these days. We grew up learning to only rely on yourself for everything, (theres no dole or social housing here) it definitely makes life much easier to know that you have to make a plan for yourself, no one else is gonna do it, there is next to no public transport here (the railways collapsed years ago and you wouldnt want to get a train anyway, even if there was one), everyone here drives otherwise you wouldnt be able to get anywhere. Taxis are very expensive and buses almost non existent. We do have ubers. Being self reliant is the best way to be, that way you owe no one nothing. Britain sadly has made everyone reliant on the government in too many ways.
That huge building in Margate is not part of Dreamland or a council block. It is a privately owned residential block and one of the worst examples of post war brutalist architecture, despite being listed.
Yep, Arlington House or whatever it is called is truly an ocular assault.
It's a fright. I couldn't believe it when I first saw it. Monstrosity.
@@misst.e.a.187 That pretty much sums up Margate too.
The audacity to charge over 350K for homes in Margate.
It’s a beauty
I had to stay in dartford for a week once in the 90's. I cant remember much from that decade, but how depressing dartford was is still very clear in my battered memory.
I have lived in Bexley, in this house, for 40 years and never stopped in Dartford and never had any inclination to look around. I passed through one or twice when The Dartford Tunnel approach roads were blocked. THat was fun..:)
I lived in London and moved to Dartford. It is a dump
The other problem with Kent is that developers are busy covering whatever open land they can find with ugly housing estates. The UK’s fertility rate is below replacement levels yet we’re fed the lie that there’s a “housing crisis” and we need to keep destroying the countryside.
There IS a housing crisis. 🤷
@@SingularityMedia Yes, and the crisis is this: our countryside is being destroyed by ugly housing estates that we don’t need, and housing prices are inflated in large part because the government distorts the market by providing social housing.
@@TP-om8of there are too few houses because there are too many foreigners being let in. Simple as.
@@lonelyharvest408 Exactly. And that’s the only reason our open spaces are being destroyed.
Love that you’ve rinsed Margate.
My boss has recently bought a holiday flat overlooking the beach here, and is constantly telling anyone who will listen how great Margate is.
I took his advice a few summers ago and visited. Left within two hours. The ‘highlight’ of the visit was watching two teenagers lure a seagull by throwing chips so they could try and kick it, a shop keeper asking me to move my dog from outside their shop who was sat on the pavement whilst my wife was inside the shop, and two drug addicts screaming at eachother in a cafe.
Horrid place. Just go to Whitstable!
Whitstable aka Islington on sea . Home to DFL's and posers .
Margate has its problems sure but is on it's way up again .
@@g.pmoore4293I lived in Whitstable for twenty years, stupid little place full of ridiculous people.
Went to Whitstable this summer and it wasn’t great. Better than Margate but that’s not difficult.
@@nickgodfrey1148 yeh, far better to go out of season.
@@g.pmoore4293 ‘posers’ in Whitstable?! It’s not Mykonos pal 😅
There such pathos when I see the attempts of Councils trying to fight the decline with zero budget available.
I can hear their meetings... "Why don't we have a statue of a local hero in the town square?"
"What about a community coffee shop in the old Debenhams?".
It's just tragic.
So sad to see how Margate has declined. I used to go there in the 80/90s, mainly to get to the great Bembon Brothers Amusement Park or Dreamland as it was known. Had some of the best days of my life there, specially the time the Mary Rose attraction got stuck upside down for nearly ten minutes with everyone's loose change, false teeth, glass eyes falling out and plummeting to the ground. It also had one of the best fish and chip shops anywhere. My dear Ma and my daughter loved it too.
My highlight of Margate was driving home in a minibus full of people and kids in a torrential downpour. I was navigating. The Man I Loved was driving. We were minutes from driving into the sea at Whitstable before I realised those tail lights I could see were actually way across the bay on a cliff top... Have a look for Wonderful Life by Black - it has a beautiful video of Margate in its prime.
Aaawwww❤
Totally agree.
A trip to the Joke Shop on the way back to the car park, was also a highlight.
Benbom's was superb....loved 'The Looping Star'.
Still a great place to visit in summer. Arrive by bike on the coastal path. Quick dip at Walpole. Back to the promenade for amazing beer at Xylo. Then jump on the train home.
As bad as Margate may seem, it didn't really help things by filming it on a wet and out of season gray day. It all looks much different at the height of a busy Summer with the crowds and the sunshine.
Have fond memories of Margate as a kid on our 2 week Summer holidays.
You were young then. It was still shit
its odd how comedy and poverty mix so well together. bravo.
I always give Kent and Essex as examples as to why we need to resist developers trashing the countryside and increasing the local populations. Here in lovely Norfolk it’s just started to happen with noticeable traffic bottlenecks and quiet lanes now clogged with SUVs. I couldn’t believe the traffic in Kent and Essex. Took me ten minutes to cross a road in one small Kentish village. Unfortunately money will always talk and the concrete will be poured.
Last night I got home in my car after Millwall beat Norwich in 21 minutes and I have a Kent address(though,admittedly,only just inside) lol
But where are people supposed to live? Developers build houses because people want to live in them.
Thanks for telling it like it is. I kinda try to do this, but at my age I just get labelled as a 'grumpy old git'. You sound much younger than me, and reasonable and compassionate. Please keep up the good work. There is so much that needs to be put right in this country, and though it has it's truly glorious bits, most of it seems to be broken.
I live in Kent and have been asking you to do this for ages.
Gravesend is horrible. I used to work there. It's been bad for 40 years. It's very rough at night too.
Ramsgate is a lot better now than it was. It used to be really rough but has had a bit spent on it.
Dover is really rough and has serious housing and crime issues and we all know what's causing it but can't say.
I went to school in Dartford and worked there. It's issues are the decline of the high street. It died when the Marks and Spencer left and the Market was chased out.
Gillingham is just a bit of a nothing. Not bad, not great. A lot of our recent arrivals end up here.
Margate has been bad for years. It had a huge influx of recent arrivals and people from London relocated by the council's for available housing.
Chatham has a late night prostitution issue to go along with its other issues.
Sheerness is just terrible. No redeeming features at all to be honest.
You nailed this video !!!!
Stop using the issue of poor investment into local infrastructure as an immigrant issue. I am deep in Somerset and the town of Weston Super Mare and many other places I saw in Devon had issues that were similar to Kent, irrespective of 'recent arrivals'.
Don't use vulnerable people's plight to push a political agenda, that is so low.
P.S. I'm a recent arrival who just pumped over 20K into the tax fund, and I work up to 6 days a week. It's horrible to read xenophobic shite on the one day off I have. Go figure. 🤷🏽♀️
Yeah, Kent is pretty bad. Ramsgate and Margate are both very rundown these days. Folkestone just another seaside town that looks terrible these days. Canterbury is pretty rough at a night, plus the high street redevelopment has made it lose a lot of its old character. The Isle of Sheppey was always pretty bad - but these days it's terrible. Chatham - the first time I went there in the mid 1990s, I went to the Pentagon shopping centre in the middle of the town and into the public toilets there - and I was shocked when I saw it had syringe bins in there for the drug addicts. Rochester has a big problem with prostitution at night. The Medway towns are all pretty bad. Dover has always been a bit of a dump - mainly because the only reason people go there is for the port, people don't really go into the town to spend the money into the local shops. I will also a lot of the small chocolate box type villages are also under threat, places like Ash and Wingham have lost their local pubs. There's also the mass house building that is going on in that area - it's destroying farmland and greenspaces everywhere - in what is supposed to be "the garden of England".
Do you mean that the last 3 years have caused such a drastic and terrible decline in Dover? Nope, of course not. But some people need to find some excuse to justify their own mistakes in their life.
No of course not. The issues are decades old. Under investment, bad financial management by the council and a ridiculous policy of importing people from London due to a lack of housing stock. That was never the answer, we need to build more houses.
Your comments are ill advised. You have no idea what the problems are in Kent due to the proximity of continental Europe and London councils. Your contribution of 20k to the exchequer is welcome but hardly trumps my £750k over a lifetime of contributions. I used the term recent arrival advisedly . The arrivals in the coastal towns of Kent are not all from abroad by from London as I explained. You are so anxious to be offended you missed that bit. You don't live near these issues and know little or nothing about it.
Grey houses,
Grey weather,
Grey pavements,
Grey sofas,
Grey carpets,
Grey cars,
Grey towels,
Grey faces!
How utterly depressing
In these grey times!
Well done for braving all that grey!
50 shades of grey in the uk
Should have called it greys end!
😅
@@Azrael1st Hilarious! 🤣
I think that's why grey is such a popular decor color. Maybe it's the way everyone feels and sees the world.
There are nice places in Kent and people should visit, I would recommend
Broadstairs
Canterbury
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Deal
Hythe
Sevenoaks (knole park)
Sandwich
Aylesford
Shoreham
Mote park (Maidstone)
Wye
Farthing common lookout
Folkestone
White cliffs walk
Blean woods
Tonbridge
Chilham
There’s loads of great villages also to see
The garden of England is a beautiful county. Always loved the Downs and Woods. Never far from the sea. Continental Europe is a relatively short drive away. The big problem is the wealth divide. I've never been to any county with such rich people in one town and such poverty in another. Like night and day between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Gillingham. Like two different worlds. Kind of sums up England in 2024 in a way.
Maidstone is underrated maybe it’s cause I live in Gillingham and my standards are low but I think it’s quite a nice town I go there quite often
I holidayed in Canterbury in 2022 and my advice is avoid, except as a day trip. It's handsome enough but the buses are useless in this largely pedestrianised city (I got around by taxi and shank's pony) and the pubs and restaurants mediocre. Despite what is said in this video, Ramsgate is more visitor friendly and easy on your legs, if not exactly posh.
You forgot Tenterden!
Bang on about Margate. ITS A DUMP. The media like to try and portray it as a trendy, hipster place, full of artists because Tracey Emin is from here and the Turner Gallery was built here. I live up the coast in Herne Bay and visited 6 months ago. The town centre was full of boarded up shops and the streets were full of rubbish. The Old Town, where all the trendies supposedly live, is 2 streets of "galleries" and overpriced cafes.
i live in margate and I agree, this place really is overhyped but its alright now in the summer i guess
@@yaboi672 it has a lovely beach. And arcades if you like that sort of thing. It's a shame as it could be great. Maybe all the london hipster type DFLs will improve it. I hope so.
@@rickiecheese36 i dont like the dfls personally, they clog up all the roads and they litter all the beaches
You are an absolute savage, lol. I have said for a long time that Kent is not the garden of England but it's backside. You took it to the next level, love it.
There is a list above of many really pleasant areas in Kent to offset these holes and Leysdown isn't even on the list. lol
I have had 40 fantastic years living right on the edge of S E London and Kent, since I moved from the heart of S E London,29 years ago.
I'm a regular rambler in Kent, and have to say that, despite the urban dereliction the rural areas are beautiful in spring, summer and autumn, with many charming 'olde-world' villages.
I tend to call Kent the Carpark of England now. Lots of concrete and cars waiting around to get out.
Kent has a problem of massive urban sprawl - meaning it only has small to mid size towns that don’t concentrate the residents on the local high street. Residents go to three different retail parks / other towns each shopping trip, thinning out their spend making each town centre vulnerable. Every local council keeps approving stupid fringe retail parks that suck life out of high streets and worsen traffic. They need to clean up town centres, build mansion style blocks and some taller, to concentrate people in town centres and get them focusing their spend and time in one place. Support it all with quality green spaces and community facilities and of course some doctors and dentists you can actually see. Until there is higher density and less sprawl, Kent will be on a decline.
It isn't hard to find boarded-up buildings in any town nowadays. Too many shops have shut because people don't go into town to shop anymore, they go online or they go to an out-of-town complex with acres of parking which is geared entirely to large chain stores. And yes, Bluewater may have contributed to the decline of nearby town centres but it was not the only reason; lots of the shops which have been boarded up were on their way out anyway.
I have lived, the London side within 10 miles of Bluewater and never visited to shop only twice to drop off and I see the attraction.
Surrounding High Streets clogged with traffic, awkward parking and yer no real traffic around Bluewater and easy parking and,of course, every shop aligns with each other.
Moving to Chatham destroyed my mind. 12 years before I escaped... with the mental scar that will never leave me.
Why? It was because of gipsies?
Thankyou for visiting Kent, it was surreal seeing Gravesend on Turdtowns. What you said about Gravesend is spot on. Keep up the good work :-)
I m glad you rinsed Margate. I live here and ever since lockdown people have moved down from London. They ve partially gentrified it, but most of it is just shite. Because everywhere has graffiti and is dilapidated apparently that’s cool, and so house prices are ridiculous. At least there’s no way I can buy a house here and so it ll force me to move elsewhere
I was about to get really angry thinking you had missed sheerness and then there it was at number 1. What a relief. I used to deliver methadone, heroin substitute there and i couldn't wait to escape
It literally is a Turdtown, dog sh*t everywhere you walk.
Brilliant video!
Just one error that I noticed - your crime rate and average house price shown for Gillingham, actually states 'Dartford'.
Just as an aside, I'm not surprised that many of the comments are pointing the demise upon one particular reason - what a surprise! The fact is, having worked across Kent for 25 years (it was the County I covered as a salesman), this decline has been ongoing for DECADES....not just the past couple of years.
I do wonder, how many people who moan about town centre shops closing, ever consider this fact when they are shopping online with Amazon, etc?
Great video - keep up the brilliant work mate.
I agree about the Amazon comment; but when everyone's broke what do you do? Buy wherever is cheapest. And if that's Amazon because Retail is too expensive, boom. High Street decimated
You should come to the States, you'd never run out of content with all our Turdtowns!
There are loads of people that do these videos "joe & Nicole" Notice they never produce any content at night!!!!! Some of the videos click on 7m+
Wasn’t surprised to find my town on here. Dartford traffic is absolutely appalling. You can hardly move on the roads thanks to the Dartford tunnel and the QEII bridge. Thanks to Bluewater Dartford Town Centre has mostly died off
Dartford was dying long before Bluewater. M&S Woolworths .Co-op was a very large department store on three floors and closed on Jan1st 2000. Plus parking in Dartford was difficult and many other specilist shops had also gone.. The roads I would agree with I live near Crayford and the roads are appaling most days due to the Dartford tunnnel.
@@paulcarter4429 Just shows Paul what a few miles make. I have lived on the Blackfen side of Danson Park in this house for 40 years since moving from S E London and the traffic isn't too bad at all. Knowing how I am very resistant to move if somewhere is ok, then I made 4 or 5 trips to the area at different times to ascertain traffic, possible developments, etc. before taking the plunge and leaving our Council Flat,11 miles away, just 2 miles from Central London. We even spent 90 minutes in our prospective new neighbour's house to see how well we would all get on:) Different times and they WERE really good neighbours:)
Dartford started to die when Bexleyheath opened its shopping centre back in the 1980s. Bluewater plus the traffic caused by the Dartford crossing has killed it off.
Happy Christmas Dude!
I do enjoy a good Turdtowns episode.
As much as going further afield would be nice, I'd save yourself some money until the better weather comes, and cover the top 8 Turdtowns in the rest of the Home Counties for now - Plenty of shitholes in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, etc...and reasonably easy to travel to.
Once again, great content!
I've never been to Sheerness but if it's worse than Chatham it must be bloody horrible. Last time I was in Chatham I asked a woman in one of the shops if there were any nice pubs in town. She just laughed.
How sad. When I worked there in the 70's, every other building was a pub, Navy town the reason. Now I live in Canada... phew.
Ignorant woman. The Firkin Pub ( Old Post Office ) is a Weatherspoons at 14 Railway st.
In the early 80s I went to college in Greenhithe, midway between Dartford and Gravesend, and before I even clicked on the video I suspected they'd both be on the list
I grew up in Ramsgate in the 70s and 80s and it was nice then, but I got out of Thanet in 1984 and rarely go back, when I have it is really sad to see the beach ruined and the shops decimated, inept local politicians have contributed to its decline, Margate was always terrible, a day trippers pit of horror. I’m surprised you missed off Maidstone, that is genuinely a horrific experience
Went to Ramsgate on a school trip circa 1978 aged 5!! It rained....Our teacher got us to collect seaweed for her garden...Lots of kids were sick on the coach...Happy to return to New Eltham!!
Agree with you, especially your comment on Maidstone ! I grew up just outside of this town in Allington during the 70's/80's. It was quite a nice place then. I moved away to Berkshire in the early 90's, but recently returned to Allington to care for my father. Maidstone is dreadful !! OMG !! Such a dump for a county town. Looks like not much has changed for the Medway towns though lol.
I moved to Chatham just short of 27 years ago, and have been happy here ever since, moving to a bigger home in the same town a couple of years ago. I knew it would be on this list, but was pleased at the positive points raised in particular.
Oh the Luton Arches are featured in this video, I live just around the corner and my home is adorable. Bought my house in 1999 for £ 26 000 . Have lived mortgage and rent free for 20 years, its paradise here, compared to the Tower Block I lived before in London. I fled to England escaping crime in Africa, white flight.
@@johnsmith-ht3sy I go via Luton Arches whenever I head into the town centre or back out again. I live in Princes Park.
@@John2Ward I always tell folks when I first meet them " I live in the Posh part of the Medway".
Where'd you move from? Chernobyl? 😂
@@WHern-gs6im South London.
Chatham and Gillingham are not squeezed right up to the Thames .it is called the Medway towns because wait for it .....its around the river Medway!!! The clue is in the name.
I visited the UK many times and I aways had great times there (except one time when the weather was really bad). There used to be a ferry service between Sheerness and Flushing (Vlissingen in Dutch). Unfortunately this was terminated in 1994.
In summer holidays there are a lot of cars with EU number plates NL ( Nederland) around Rochester, they holiday at Allhallows Park.
I live in Kent and I've just watched your video and I have this to say - everything you say is absolutely correct! I've been to all those places and was only in Gillingham a few weeks ago! (car service) Everything you've shown is as I know it!
it sucks really how bad things are getting and a lot of the locals have just given up.
Brexit hasn't helped things either.
@@garyturner5739 Even without brexit things will likely have been worse anyway, Europe in itself is not doing very well currently, there's enough issues over there as well.
Has anyone else noticed the latest trend for towns to pave their pedestrian areas in depressing grey and black blocks. It really doesn't help the vibe of many of these places.
Excellent point. I was thinking exactly the same. Utterly devoid of character. Soulless, desolate, full of aggressive druggies. And nothing like the “artist’s impressions”. Usually topped off by some pointless sculpture costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Yes 100%
Recently Canterbury has done it but didn"t estimate enough paving blocks so lots of " gaps" and "holes" for people and mobility scooters to fall or get stuck on.
I’m shocked Maidstone didn’t make the list. I cycled through there once thinking it was going to be like Canterbury and couldn’t wait to get out.
A town that should be nice but is filled with crime and too much traffic? It's just like Canterbury!
No way. It's not that bad. It has some good restaurants and shopping centres. It is the county town, after all.
@@lesskeels3417I've lived in four places. Maidstone, Southampton, Bedford and Macclesfield. Not exactly the most glamorous or inspiring list and yet Maidstone is by far and away the worst of the lot
Maidstones a mix of everything. Got some great spots. Got some shitholes. Guess like most counties.
In fifty years' time, after the apocalypse, when the world is a burning pit if radioactive waste, people will look back on these precious videos be shocked just how shit most of England was.
Thank you for your service, Margaret, John, Tony, Dave and all the fuckwits that followed them.
There won't be any people after the apocalypse, let alone with memories to look back. Heavens forbid I am from Kent originally and luckily met my French wife there and we came to lovely France 50 years ago to live. I have never been back. I don't miss that crappy depressing climate or the junk food.
I’m surprised only two of the Medway towns made the list.
Good to see you done a video in the south east.
Unlike the your previous videos you a highlighting an area of the country that has both a geographic and economic advantage. Yet still has some extremely dire and depressed towns
Well there'd be no room to talk about anywhere else if they talked about all of them
Excellent, I've been waiting for my home county to get the Turdtowns treatment since I found the channel. I was shocked when Chatham was only in second but realised I'd forgotten Sheppey (I think most people try to forget about it). There are actually 3 prisons on the Isle of Sheppey and it's apparently where the 'alpha' variant of Covid came from.
If you ever do a Lincolnshire video, I would be fascinated to know how Grimsby compares to other Turdtowns. I've travelled a lot in the UK and it's easily the most neglected place I've visited.
Prisons = Jobs
Boston would be a good one to cover for Lincolnshire
I've lived in Grimsby for the last 25 years. Suprisingly enough I moved here to find work and I found it, I've been gainly employed here for the last quarter of a century (although I now actually work from home.)
Up until a year ago I thought this town was a hole - miserable people, low education, high unemployment, youth crime, drugs and a derelict town centre and high streets. Having watched Turdtowns now, I realise that these problems are not just in Grimsby, but affect the whole of the UK. Grimsby is no longer a shithole, it's just the same as every other small town in the UK.
You can blame the death of the high street on out-of-town malls and internet shopping, you can blame youth crime and drug use on the lack of well-paid sustainable jobs and you could blame poor education levels on an education system that cares more about league tables than personal enrichment, but all of these combined factors are what's causing most of what you see in these videos.
The next government has got it's work cut out.
@@martindavis3393 You really think the system cares about the ordinary person?
@@reanukeeves2k77 He doesn't speak Polish:)
Man, England is falling apart at the seams and councils think "ah just put a rainbow flag on it, job done". seeing rainbows juxtaposed against derelict town squares is just extra depressing
Well unless my eyesight is failing, I didn't see one 'rainbow flag' in any of these towns?
Would you care to point out where they were?
Moreover, I don't think I've noticed a rainbow flag in ANY of the Turd Towns covered in this entire series.....but hey, let's not let fact get in the way of your BS, rhetoric and agenda of hate! 😂
11:34 get down to specsavers mate, also drive around ol blighty more youll see rainbow flags absolutely everywhere. theres nothing hateful or political about pointing out rainbow flags are plastered about in depressing dumps you hypersensitive baby
@@BarryAllenMagic Are you possibly jumping the gun just a little? I read the OP's post as being an inditement of hollow virtue signalling and not tackling actual problems. Living in a crime-ridden, run-down dump with bad schools does not help minorities or vulnerable groups. Too often I see politicians talking the talking - but not walking the walk. We are meant to be mollified with flags and taking the knee etc. I don't think that seeing these gestures juxtaposed against broken towns and schools not fit for the purpose as 'extra depressing' can be fairly described as 'an agenda of hate'.
@BarryAllenMagic not to mention this is a tory area lmao, wonder why this country is going to hell. Oh I know! It's those immigrants and gays! Not the government over the past 13 years!
@@BarryAllenMagic Presumably they're referring to Margate, 11:30 or so in the video, where a building is covered in rainbow flags.
You need to do a Yorkshire Turdtowns and team up with Wandering Turnip who actually talks to the locals to get their views on where they live.
Honestly I want to but every time I try I realise im already behind schedule. It takes a very long time get around 8 towns. Winter filming hours are short too.
I moved to Kent 20 years ago from SE London. Whilst doing family research over time, I discovered that all my relatives were from Gravesend, something I had never known. They owned one of the breweries alongside the Thames. One of the ancient churches has windows dedicated to my ancestors & one was even the local Mayor!! They would be weeping if they could see Gravesend now. It's a dark ghostly shadow of how it was & I rarely go. So sad. There's good & bad areas everywhere in the UK. When you live in an area you know where to go & where to avoid. Kent also has some peaceful green spaces too & some lovely walks with interesting historical places. Just so sad that the towns have declined so much.
Maidstone, the county town, should be a bonus track on this list.
Outside of Maidstone on the outskirts that is where there is serious money (Kings Hill)
And it's going downhill fast. They keep renovating office blocks into flats which are bought up by. London councils who fill them up with feral gang members.... Which has pretty much been the story of. Kent for decades
RUBBISH. Maidstone is quite nice, got good shopping, nice big green open spaces (Mote Park), good restaurants (Gem of Kent is great), and you can reach most places within the county easily, like Tenterden, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Canterbury, even Chatham on this list here, which I think isn't really that bad. There are megabucks properties in King's Hill, not far away, a lot of American expats have houses there. Barming is also quite nice, just on the fringes of Maidstone. Crikey, if you really want to see one great big Turdtown, with lots of Turdboroughs, look no further than Greater London.......East Ham, Croydon, Hackney, Hornsey, Stratford, Brixton, the Isle of Dogs, and that's only to name the most obvious ones,
@@lesskeels3417agreed
I’m originally from Kent born in Gravesend lived there till I was 6 ,I loved it .the road I spent my childhood in ,i heard all the houses were knocked down as it was so rough , it now has all new houses in its place .when I was a teenager I moved to isle of Sheppey with my parents lived there till I was 19 , I remember the great fair in sheerness the arcades ,all gone now , the pubs were good fun in the evening too .
Sheppey school/Minster college was awful the teachers were terrible and felt I learnt nothing . We moved away in the late 90s to Cumbria , the town we moved to was awesome lots of night clubs and shops and close to the lakes too but has now gone right down hill ,hardly anything in the town ,loads of pubs and clubs and hotels gone just like most of the country’s towns , it’s a real shame what’s happening to these once great places
You ought to do a video on Essex turdtowns - it has a few!! Has some nice ones as well, which makes the contrast rather startling. Put it this way, I grew up in South Essex and people used to regularly take the Ferry across to shop in Gravesend because it was considered quite grand compared to Essex!
You beat me to it! I'm (sadly) also a native of South Essex and remember Gravesend being hyped in the 90s as a nice place to visit - but when the ferry is leaving from Tilbury, ANYWHERE is a nice place to visit. I'm sure Turdtowns could have a field day with Thurrock Council's bankruptcy being the largest ever on record, as well as being on the other side of that nasty crossing on the road to nowhere AND home to what was the largest shopping center in Europe when it opened. Just a shame Southend doesn't quite look as run down as it was in the 90s, though the pier still tries to off itself and self-combust every few years, which isn't surprising since it's stuck in Southend for its entire existence.
Also from south Essex. I remember Basildon and Shenfield being Shitholes. Maldon has the worst high street I’ve been on and the roads into Chelmsford are harder to cross than the Berlin Wall. I moved to West Yorkshire and never looked back!
@@procrastination_productions You can't forget Tilbury - this was looked on as a dangerous place even in the 60s! I grew up in Grays, which has had the stuffing knocked out of it by the opening of Lakeside, and even the nicer areas are now filthy, rundown and litter-strewn - and the houses are still worth a fortune! Further afield Southend and Clacton have their very seedy spots, and whilst I used to quite like Chelmsford (haven't been for decades), I always had a problem with Colchester - there always seemed to be an air of menace about the place - even during the day time! You escaped to W Yorks, I'm on Teesside, and sometimes even Teesside is more inviting than South Essex!
@@procrastination_productions Yep, all great suggestions - The Army and Navy flyover in Chelmsford always looked like it would fall down in a light breeze. Shoutouts to Corringham, Stanford, Tilbury, Grays, Ockendon, Aveley, and Purfleet for being some real turds of south Essex. Special mention for Brentwood for giving the world TOWIE and utterly destroying what little pride people could have in the name of Essex.
@@Silent002Brentwood’s bad but the area outside shenfiejd station is the most bleak place I had ever set foot in.
Excellent, I've visited or commuted through some of these place when working in the construction industry.
I got a little worried as the list went on, but you didn't disappoint, you put Sheerness on top spot.
It doesn't even have a direct rail service to London. Another area is the Isle Of Grain. I feel sorry for anyone who lives on that desolate and isolated spit of land.
" I feel sorry for anyone who lives on that desolate and isolated spit of land".
Made me laugh out loud:)
Most of the North Kent coast is deeply depressing , hardly Darling buds of May Territory.
Trashed by heavy industry, now mostly gone.
Turdtowns, Wandering Turnip and Wendall - all highlighting the demise of our towns/cities
Give it 10 years, I don't see high streets existing.
How come you missed out Trashford, sorry, Ashford?
Maybe Councils will realise one day (When it's too late) that out of town shopping centres kill the real town centres.
It happened at Trashford when they built "The Designer Outlet" and moved the Market too
Bluewater did it for Dartford, Gravesend, Chatham & Gillingham to a certain extent.
Westwood certainly messed up Ramsgate and Margate.
Dover?? We all know what's messed that place up.
Good video though.
Ashford must be number 9!
Councils and governments don't give a toss about the high streets dying
I love in Ashford. To be honest, it's not that bad. Good places to eat, and shop. Lots of places to work. Town centre is a bit pants though. Easy access to lovely countryside is a plus.
I agree with you on the countryside. The rest? Are you sure?
I moved here some 23 years ago, not really a choice as it was affordable. To be honest I still rather like it. Maybe it grows on you like mould. I also remember it from the early 80,s and the change for the better is simply amazing. It's still not Canterbury mind you!
I once dated a girl from Orpington. I spent one Christmas with her parents, and was pleasantly suprised by how nice it was. She took me to Bluewater, which was a great shopping experience, although kind of stressful to drive to.
As others have said Bluewater is what killed several of the towns mentioned here.
True just like Video Killed The Radio Star..@@cad4246
Despite what many of the locals think, Orpington has not been in Kent since it was subsumed into Greater London in 1965.
@@GrahamMacdonald-w9o Within one aside of working in Orpington. I got the job in 1991/92 and as I was about to leave, having agreed terms,my prospective Boss told me that he was off to the Caribbean and being new to the Business,I changed my mind and the whole course of my life:)
So many beautiful places in Kent. Faversham, Whitstable, Canterbury and many pretty villages.You are doing a disservice to Kent.
Dover has the castle and a museum.
Canterbury is a beautiful city with the famous Cathedral.
Lots of beautiful castles and gardens.
I lived in the heart of S E London and many of us had caravans in Seasalter(us) Whitstable and Herne Bay etc and that is MY part of Kent but we had to get off the caravan site in 1971 so over 50 years ago. In fact, 40 years ago I moved from the heart of S E London to Bexley because that was a coach stop on the way to our caravan that we visited about 11 weeks in the year including all 7 weeks of school holidays. The 1960s were idyllic "Darling Buds Of May" years 🤩
I grew up in Kent and hiked the whole coast earlier this year.
Gravesend is grim, I totally agree. Miserable and dank, but the Fort is worth a look.
Ramsgate is much better than it used to be. And like you say the Marina (and beach) are pretty nice, especially in summer.
Dover is another place that could be much better and steps are being taken to improve it. The town centre's grotty. The castle and gaol are fantastic, as are the white cliffs.
Dartford, bland and forgettable. Yeah you nailed it there.
Ah, Gillingham, the team I support. Voted by many as the worst 'away day' in the country. It is depressing and does feel like a poor London overspill.
Growing up on the Isle of Sheppey, I used to think Margate was like California 😂 yeah, it's pretty bad. Used to be much better. There's a few things to do and out of the town centre is much nicer and there's some great buildings and beaches.
Chatham is rough and always has been. The birthplace of the word 'chav'.
Wow, my hometown is number 1 🤦♂️ well, technically I grew up in Minster, but still. I did my secondary education off the island though 😂 that dog shit alley is grim. The truth is, nobody goes into the town centre anymore. Out of town retail parks or 'off the island' is where people do their shopping and socialising now
The Fort is a ruin of a ruin. It may be a historic site, but it's not important enough for any effort at preservation.
You should really do a whole episode on Sheppey....Its a notoriously terrible island...It has improved slightly now there is a permanent bridge. Previously there was a draw bridge that if it was raised meant the local police couldn't get onto the island to help!!! Also a fun fact : Some Motgers Do Av Em was based on Sheppey with Frank as a typical local!!!😅😅😅😅
Michael Crawford is from Sheppey but that programme was based in Herne Bay
@@no_soy_rubio I'm sure some of it was filmed there!!
@@jamesbeeching6138 yeah the driving lesson one where he drove the car off the King's ferry Bridge was! 😆
@@retiredbore378lol! Milford Haven was not an upgrade.
@@retiredbore378 I think most people are not ready for radical change, and they thought they'd be less discriminated against in MH. people want to fit in and want to avoid their kids getting bullied at school. I kinda understand that transition.
When I first started driving I hated roundabouts too, but now I know how to drive I love how they keep traffic moving and reduce jams. Come back when you've been driving for a few years and you'll love Kent.
Edit: There's a lot of green space in Medway too. Plenty of parks and places where you can go from the town centre to wilderness in a matter of minutes like Cuxton and the Lines
Edit 2: Pocahontas there's a f**king monument at her grave it's by the river
Great video - I grew up near Gravesend and went to school in Dartford. This was 30 odd years ago, these places were even worse then. You missed out the delightful Swanscombe and Greenhithe, it's basically the scruffy bit of Gravesend and Dartford. Although I've moved away I now live in South Yorkshire. The Turdtowns of Kent are heaven on earth compared with the likes of Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley. I really suggest you need to do an episode in South Yorkshire, in fact you could probably do a whole series, in order to add to the credibility of the Turdtowns brand.
He would need to learn Punjabi for that.
During 9/11 someone in Chatham heard that The Pentagon had been attacked and hoped it was the shopping centre which had needed razing to the ground for years. Grew up around Medway, got the hell out 18 years ago for Australia where things are still trying to kill you but they generally aren't human. Solid list, particularly sad about the decline of Margate, loved visiting back when it was booming.
I was actually inside Chatham Pentagon and a workman had a transistor radio on announcing the Twin Tower being struck by a plane. Went home switched on TV just in time to see live Tower 2 struck. 2001.
@@johnsmith-ht3sy I was working in Tonbridge when it happened, watching the financial news feeds go nuts. Memorable day.
My sister went on an exchange trip to Germany with her school in the late 1970s. They went by ferry from Sheerness and I remember her saying it was a dump even then.
Thank you for the honest appraisal of my home county. It's a big old area and certainly one of haves and have-nots. Chatham could easily be a nice place but would need investment and a bit of vision. The seaside towns will always struggle with unemployment and drugs.
At least Sheerness can boast its very own prison. Don't assume that all that crap is from dogs either...
Three prisons. Although not in Sheerness, they are on Sheppey
so sorry for underselling it@@no_soy_rubio
There are actually three prisons on Sheppey: HMP Standford Hill, HMP Swaleside and HMP Elmley. Sounds grim. And it is.
Woooo! Sheermess Numba Waaaan! Still got happy memories of visiting family there as a kid though. Absolutely loved the massive park/sandpit they have there.
Another great video, I’ve lived in Kent for nearly 20 years and would have picked the same 8 but added Maidstone and Ashford as a pair of overrated junkie filled hell holes. Sheerness was the obvious number 1 it’s tragic.
The traffic in Kent is beyond ridiculous - it feels like you’re trapped by congestion and it’s 10 times worse since Brexit which was ironically and u fathomably supported in Kent - a county that relies on trade and travel with mainland Europe. 🤯
Your comment is ironic because when we joined The E E C in 1973 it was just a Trade deal with 6 affluent Countries. The E U with its 28 states became something completely different. If the Trade is much;less Post Brexit then how is the traffic 10 times worse?
@@Isleofskye do you live in Kent? Have you first hand experience of the traffic pre and post Brexit? Check the definition of irony too.
@@petewelsh9978 Well only in this house for 40 years. lol
To be fair, although my address is a Kent one,I am, literally,on the border of S E London and Kent in Bexley and my life means,I can, easily,avoid traffic as I have no need to go out during school runs or rush hours and know all the back streets as I am 69 years old.
I know it is deceptive but I got home from Millwall last night in 21 minutes once I reached my car.
I live in Medway and I think you were very kind in your description of Chatham. Most people I know avoid the high street. It says a lot about society when you see these failing areas.
I can't believe you have put Gravesend below Dartford as someone who lives in the area, lots of your critique of Dartford is gone if you use the train, takes 35 mins to get to London Bridge. Good video anyways, keep it up!
He was pretty riled up about the driving situation 😂
35 mins away from the biggest third world cesspit in England, that's not a good thing.
You missed Sheerness’s one saving grace… The SS Richard Montgomery that went down just off the Sheerness coast with 1500 tons of explosives in the WW2. It’s said if it goes up it will take out most of the Island of Sheppy…. And most of the the north Kent coat!!😮
Great video by the way! 👍
As a kent resident I agree with most of this. I will just say that the listed building in Margate may be somewhat hideous, but it is somewhat cuclturally important as a remnant concrete architecture.
Also isle of sheppey, you missed leysdown. That is a place I will never forget!
Little did I realize 30 years ago that when my 70-year old Mum was unwell and I could, barely, move with Gout and our dog accompanied us to the local Pharmacist all clinging to each other and limping along, that was going to be the highlight of my week's holiday in Leysdown...
My mum grew up there 50 years ago and this was fantastic. Thank you for posting! It looks as gorgeous as ever good memories! All the locals complaining in the comment section are hilarious. Don’t be grumpy
For future visits, Essex would be worth a look. Some nice villages in the north of the county; Dedham, Langham, and Ardleigh, and Battlesbridge to name a few. In constant, you have awful towns like Southend, Basildon, Thurrock, and Colchester.
Not forgetting Jaywick 😮
My daughter lives in Wivenhoe in Essex, quite close to Colchester. I'm surprised that Colchester is an 'awful' town, as I am quite impressed with it whenever I go there with her and my grandson. There is a lot of history there, and not a lot of visible dereliction.
@@993RedvegTowns north of Brentwood and Chelmsford are better Havering and Thurrock are 💩 area's
I knew Sheerness would be #1! I used to travel through there regularly when there were ferries to Vlissingen (Olau Line, lovely ships). There was also the Sheerness Steelworks, gone now. Much later I discovered that my grandfather was born in Sheerness. His father had come down from the North East to work as shipwright in the Royal Dockyard, also now gone.
I’m amazed that my hometown, Sittingbourne, escaped the list. Just goes to show the level of competition for the top spot there is on this list 😂
The pikey capital of Kent1!
As a Kent native, I can agree the list was spot-on. Its hard to pick just 10 towns since Strood, Folkestone, Ashford could have made the list. So many traditional, historical towns have rotted away due to poverty, antisocial behaviour, non-assimilating immigration, overcrowding and so on. But Kent as a county still has a lot to offer - beaches, countryside, historical sites, shopping and close links to London making the county somewhere that, despite its problems, people will always want to live in.
Sheerness is a sheet hole , interbred population, surprised they don’t have clubs for Banjo players
Glad to see my home town dover is on here 💪🏽 (the crime is bad because the police station closes at 5pm)
I do have a soft spot for Margate as I always holidayed in Cliftonville as a kid and I do visit once a year on a coach trip. It is a strange mix of shops, either overpriced retro shops or a mainly boarded up High Street. Nice beach though.
as a Margate local and lover I implore you to come in the summer! yes there's some run down buildings and it's dominated by Londoners, but there's bars, art galleries, loads of activities and things to do, it's busy and full of life and it's a great time, I really like it here
Comedian Mark Steel once remarked that Swanley in Kent was the worst place in the world to grow up in, before Linda Smith countered with "Well you've never been to Erith then".
Yeah I'm from Joydens wood which is one of the few nice areas in that area 😭 Albany Park, Old bexley and Wilmington are nice though
I was surprised Erich wasn’t on the list.
@@kevinstoneham1245 So was I, but apparently (thanks Wikipedia) it was folded into the Greater London district in 1965 and no longer a part of Kent.
@@will_n775 I have had 40 fantastic years in this house next to Danson Park(Cheap side) and at 69 will never move. We had/have 76 Open Spaces within a 7 mile radius.
@@will_n775 Footscray Meadows 245 Acres,Danson Park 185 Acres and neat Oxleas Woods, Avery Hill, Eltham Park North and South,Hall Place, and Scudbury Park are all within 3 miles and Beautiful and I have had 40 wonderful years here:)
What a load of Garbage. We've lived in Margate for 12 years, are mortgage free, lovely beach, lovely air, lovely people and we wouldn't live anywhere else. Those of us that actually live here today know the real truth. You're just running down any town in your country you can think of, in the quest for so called "entertainment"
Same here, debt free for 20 years in Chatham, its easy living.
They are both dumps. Horrible place to live
I was born in Kent and lived there until I was 25. Then I left the country and haven't looked back since. Seeing this video only reaffirms my life choices. Kent does have some lovely towns and villages, if you have the money to live there though......
Shout out for Sheppey... Once visited, never forgotten 👍🏻...
And never revisited, unless well paid, or sent to one of the various prisons on the island.
Christ, what a dump England has become. It's at a tipping point.
It is the much vaunted #returntoserfdom for the Uk😮😢
Parts of the 'Garden of England' are beautiful. You visited the compost heap 🙂
Kent remains a beautiful, mainly rural county despite the pockets of urban dereliction, which is happening throughout the country, due to factors that have already been described.
I lived in Kent for just over a year and travelled around most towns regularly, all the towns mentioned are very grim and disgusting however ive never felt more unsafe than I did in Ashford.
Trashford lol
commute commute...and when you finally manage to get home, you're in dartford. Classic.
What about Ashford ? What a dump. I moved away 20 years ago, came back recently and couldn't believe it. Nothing but expensive houses and a dead high st.
Bit harsh on Margate & Ramsgate, I like them of course they aren´t going to look good on December days, where does?
Agree