Dartford

Most of the country knows Dartford as a word the traffic reporter says with a sigh, which is harsh on a town that briefly hosted Henry VIII's government and has been waiting for a sequel ever since. The high street watched Bluewater open in the old quarry next door and has been brave about it. Martin Frobisher once had his Arctic gold refined on Powder Mill Lane and it turned out to be road stone, so the town knows a thing or two about promises that look better from a distance. The people who joke about Dartford are mostly stuck in the queue for its crossing, which tells you who's winning.