The sad truth about Canterbury! 🇬🇧

It's no secret that Canterbury is one of the UK's top tourist destinations. And for good reason, it has the incredibly beautiful church, founded by Augustine of Canterbury in 597 AD. Quaint rivers and tons of nice cafes.

However Canterbury has another side which you haven't seen yet.

It's been ranked as the second worst place in Kent, putting technically worse than the likes of Gravesend, Sheerness, Ramsgate.

In this video we explore both sides of Canterbury and give an insight into what it's like to visit here from a tourist perspective, and live here from a local perspective.

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Sources:

Canterbury 2nd worst place in Kent:

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[realEdventures]

Canterbury was overal really nice in some areas but it is clear to see there are a few areas that let it down.

I wish everyone who resides here the very best. ❤️

[lukemullet]

Nah I ain't having it. There's absolutely no way in a million years that Dover rates higher than Canterbury.

[Explorist]

Im a university student studying law, and I live in Canterbury. It's a nice place, and i sometimes buy a lovely fresh fudge from a small business. There are ups and downs in nearly every town in England. So i dont know why this youtuber is acting so surprised. Drugs are literally everywhere in England. It's not new. But i can assure you that it's way safer than other towns.

[spleeeenit]

Bloody hell, there are many worse towns in Kent than Canterbury !! Maidstone and chatham are way, way worse.

[Khayyam-vgfw]

I moved to East Kent over 20 years ago, and I used to love visiting Canterbury. In the last 5-10 years, though, it has become horrible.

A large part of the problem is the proliferation of so-called universities, which have unbalanced the population of the town and given the place a transient and anonymous feeling. There is also the encroachment of London into Kent which has already ruined the Medway towns and the overdevelopment - pretty much like everywhere else these days - of the place.

[nomore]

I used to shop in Canterbury, however over the last couple of years the streets are full of beggars and homeless druggies ... I only shop at the Ashford outlet and Bluewater now ...

[qed]

Dangerous city - a priest got stabbed in the church years ago

[FireEmblemFanBoy]

I was a Uni student in Canterbury in 2005, Canterbury said to be safest city for students. Present Day, I work in Canterbury, it's a real dump and that's said by someone born in Chatham! 🤣
Homeless everywhere, drug users common sight. The 24 hour McDonalds is notorious for fights. Knife crime in areas too. To be fair, most of Kent is like this now. 😢

[alexewing]

Hi I've lived in Canterbury for 30yrs. It has changed, and not always for the best. But it's still a beautiful city to live in.

[harmonizedigital.]

As native born population declines the city will continue to decline.

[johnhickman]

A fair report on Canters... It's never been the same since Debenhams, Nasons and the Canterbury Tales all closed down. Nowadays, it's a slightly diminished representation of the city that I remember from 10 or so years ago - I left in 2012 ...

[normanwood]

Canterbury is fine. Too swamped by tourists to actually go there, especially in July/August. The worst part is actually Wincheap about a mile to the west of the city centre. Worst is not too bad. Compared to Chatham the worst part of Canterbury is a paradise.

[gunthingduck]

I went to an independent school here and I thought Canterbury was very nice. My only problem is that the local children harass us on the main street and just generally view us in a negative light.

[howardturner]

I went to uni there in the 1980s, it was a bit boring and quiet but clean, no druggies, and really safe, what has happened to our country????! God help us for the future

[alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

I think the thing with Canterbury was that at night time - there was always problems - petty crime, drugs, drunkeness, etc. It has always had a problem with vagrants though(and I remember seeing a lot on the high street in the 1980s).

The main high street has lost a lot of its old character now thanks to the 2000s rebuild. I also think the 1960s style architecture around the city wall looks ugly.

[egris]

The homeless situation in Canterbury is really sad. Nobody helps them. Not even the council. All the charities that tried to help had funding cut by previous govt. So homeless people live all al9ng the storefronts of Canterbury high street. It's not safe for females to walk at night. Done John Park has high rate of crime, anti social behaviour. I live here so I know.

[JohnBaxterWalker]

You're missing the point. Having lovely streets and buildings doesn't mean it's a nice place to live. Look at the local headlines for the past year or so. Stabbings, fights, attacks, rapes and a murder. Foreign student beaten to within and inch of his life by local yobs. Beggars in many of the doorways. Local yobs hanging around at night. Drunk dropouts, locals and students vomiting on pavements when the clubs and pubs turn out. And, yes, other towns have similar problem but Canterbury is a major tourist city with acres of history. It's so disappointing. BTW Westgate is in the West - north is round the corner in Northgate :)

[mattkinsella]

I grew up in Canterbury and Whitstable back in the 80s and 90s, it was always like this. It has a "veneer" that tourists, visitors and new arrivals see and seem to like but the reality of the place is very different. It did go through a bit of an uptick and gentrification in the late 90s to mid 2000s but I think that was a lot to do with property prices and money coming from the white flight out of London etc and now it's just settling back to the state it always was.

[kevpresc]

The article is based on police crime data, and essentially lists a load of shopping centres in Kent, where it seems crime occurs...also seems to go with total numbers of crimes, rather than per head.

[BassistPaul]

I've lived near to Canterbury since 2000 - what's immediately obvious in your video is the lack of footfall within the city. Those streets used to be bustling with buyers, eaters and drinkers.
I'm sure local business owners will enthusiastically thank the woke Labour council for its penurious actions on private car driving and parking...