Those behind a website sneering at Dover have been branded “dimwit keyboard warriors” and “sad trolls.”

The furious words came from MP Charlie Elphicke after the site ilivehere.co.uk named the town as the 10th worst place to live in England.

He said: “People in Dover are fed up with dimwit keyboard warriors talking our town down. What do they know about Dover? And why should we care what they think?

“The truth is that we all know Dover is on the up – with £400 million of investment in recent years and a new cinema and shops set to open next month.

“Add to that our castle, our iconic White Cliffs and our port – plus our new hospital, the fast train to London and that house prices are on the up because more people want to move here.

“It just shows these sad internet trolls are simply talking rubbish.”

The website pokes fun at what its writers see as grotspots and it had rated the port town as the worst last year.

It now describes the area as “one of the biggest dumps in the south east,” adding: “Dover has been through many stages in its development to reach its present day chavley splendor. So please if you’re ever in the area and fancy a visit, pop down to Dover and sample some ‘culcha’.”

One of its contributors said: “All in all no-one wants to live here but it’s the cheapest hole in Kent, it’s unloved and unwanted which is why I believe the German air force should have done their jobs properly and levelled the place back in the 1940s.”

The website aroused lively debate on the Facebook page Dover for Disgruntled Dovorians.

Linda Quick wrote: “Of course it’s a load of rubbish.”

Cal Roberts said: “Oh come on, Dover has its charms, but I think it finds its self on this list as a consequence of its spiralling social issues.

“My insurance has threatened to cancel on me because I’ve been parked in Dover opposed to Canterbury.”

Shaun Brown wrote: “With widespread poverty, crime and failing businesses happening all over, Dover is not that fantastic of a place to live in.”

Debbie Williams-Moore commented: “Dover was a lovely place to live but it has got that bad even the criminals are leaving.”

"These sad internet trolls are simply talking rubbish" - Charlie Elphicke MP

Mr Elphicke added: “In town we have some great independent shops and cafes.

"We are also overflowing with brilliant micropubs, from the Mash Tun in Bench Street to the Breakwater Brewery in Lorne Road – where I enjoyed a delicious pint of ale last week.

“With St James opening within weeks, we need to do all we can to support these businesses. That’s why I’m fully backing Dover District Council’s plans to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in the old town.”

Cllr Nigel Collor, for Castle ward, questioned where the website ilivehere.co.uk got their information from.

He said: “They definitely didn’t ask me or any of my colleagues.

“We need to get the ‘feel good factor’ more active in the town not go around drumming up anti support for things only giving part of the story.”

In his list of positives for Dover he highlights high speed rail connections to London, the fact ugly Burlington House has been demolished, the St James development is about to open, the new district leisure centre is being constructed.

The website ilivehere.co.uk claims to have surveyed 31,191 of its readers to compile the chart, in which first place went to Huddersfield.