Three beaches have received the highly unwanted title of having some of the worst bathing water quality in England.

Coastlines at Littlestone, Deal Castle and Dymchurch have been awarded the dreaded gongs in the 2025 'Brown Flag Awards'.

These are beaches rated as 'poor' by the Environment Agency (EA) due to their potentially unsafe levels of bacteria in the water - as campaigners continue to grapple with forcing change and improving places’ reputations.

The hat-trick of Brown Flags for Kent is the joint worst performance in England, alongside Somerset.

It comes 12 months after Littlestone won the same award in the 2024 awards, while Deal Castle and Dymchurch are newcomers in winning the unwanted award for the first time.

Overall, just 42% of Kent’s beaches are rated as ‘excellent’ for water cleanliness compared to about 90% in Northumberland, Devon and Dorset.

The results come following a study of the EA’s official summertime water quality data at more than 400 beaches nationwide resulting in a list of 19 poor-performing areas.

Water quality readings look for intestinal enterococci and escherichia coli (e-coli) levels to see whether there is ‘faecal matter’ in the water.

The cause of the bacteria comes from “sewage, agricultural livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage”, according to the EA.

Robbie Lane, from UK travel site Holiday Park Guru, the firm which carried out the research, said: “We had hoped that we’d be handing out fewer Brown Flags this year – but things have gone down the pan.

"For Kent, the bad news is that it’s picked up three Brown Flag Awards, which is one of the worst performances in England.

"The good news is that more than 40% of beaches in Kent are rated as ‘excellent’ for their water quality in summer – including Herne Bay and Broadstairs.

"Do your research this summer and you’ll be saying 'wish you were here' rather than 'wish I’d worn a hazmat suit'."

Pressure has been ramped up on water companies to reveal their plan to improve water bathing quality along Kent’s coastline.

Leading campaigners in Deal worry the damage is being done already to the town’s reputation as it gears up for the summer tourism season.

The government has promised £104 billion of investment in water infrastructure and launched a new law to prevent water company bosses claiming huge bonuses - all of which is hoped will tackle the problem.

But Peter Jull, chairman of Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade (DWCT), previously told KentOnline the work is urgently needed to overturn the low rating and improve the town’s standing.

“It is not helping now as we are already in the holiday booking season and the rating can only have a detrimental effect on that,” he said.

He stressed the poor reading from one spike in pollution levels brings down the area’s multi-year rolling average, even when there are better water quality readings at other times of the year.

In Dymchurch last month, the area’s MP, Tony Vaughan (Lab), visited the village to sample a quick-fire water testing device.

On the day he visited, Mr Vaughan found the water was low-risk prompting him to demand greater frequency of testing so that “blacklisted” beaches can have more up-to-date results reported.

However, it has not all been doom-and-gloom for the county.

St Mary’s Bay, on the Romney Marsh, is the only beach in England which has been upgraded from ‘poor’ to ‘sufficient’ in the last year, something which has seen it lose its Brown Flag status.

Meanwhile, the number of Brown Flag beaches in England in total has rocketed from 13 in 2024 to 19 in 2025 – an increase of 46%.