More than a crossing

On Dartford's ambiguous identity on the edge of Kent and London

For most people, Dartford is little more than a traffic update. There’s the bridge, the tunnel, the daily grind of tailbacks, and that moment of dread when your satnav flashes red as you approach the crossing. For the millions who sit in those queues each year, Dartford is somewhere you pass through, not somewhere you go.

The Dartford Crossing.

Look around the town itself, and you find a place constantly wrestling with the idea of what it should be. Is Dartford really Kent, or is it just the last bit of London that the tube never quite got to? Is it a historic market town, a dormitory for city workers, or something else?