Where to Find the Cheapest Petrol and Diesel in West Kent Right Now

Drivers shopping around across West Kent's four boroughs can currently save as much as £7 on a 50-litre tank just by choosing the right forecourt, according to this site's own fuel-price tracker - and it isn't always the supermarket pump that comes out cheapest.

Figures from this site's fuel-price tracker, refreshed from the Government's own Fuel Finder data feed, show the following as the cheapest currently reported prices (as of the 8 October morning refresh):

• Maidstone - 171.9p unleaded, 196.9p diesel, both cheapest at Texaco on Ashford Road - the cheapest petrol anywhere in West Kent right now
• Tonbridge & Malling - 173.7p unleaded, 196.7p diesel, both cheapest at Gulf's Aylesford Service Station - the cheapest diesel anywhere in West Kent right now
• Sevenoaks - 173.9p unleaded (Texaco, PGG Twenty Mile, near West Kingsdown), 199.9p diesel (a tie including Tesco's Riverhead superstore and BP Wolfe in Westerham)
• Tunbridge Wells - 173.9p unleaded, 197.9p diesel, both cheapest at Sainsbury's in the town

It isn't the straightforward "supermarkets are cheapest" story you might expect. Sainsbury's genuinely sets the cheapest price on both fuels in Tunbridge Wells - but in the other three boroughs, an independent or branded forecourt undercuts every supermarket nearby. Gulf's Aylesford Service Station holds the cheapest diesel in the whole of West Kent, and Texaco's Ashford Road site in Maidstone the cheapest petrol, both beating every Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons in their own borough. Morrisons in Maidstone (173.9p/199.9p) and Tesco at Sevenoaks' Riverhead superstore (177.9p/199.9p) are competitive, but neither is the cheapest option on its own doorstep.

The spread within each borough tells a more familiar story about choice. Edenbridge's two forecourts - Esso's MFG Champion and Jet's Petrocell site - report the priciest diesel anywhere in the Sevenoaks borough, both at 204.9p, 5p above the borough's cheapest. Snodland fares similarly within Tonbridge & Malling: the ME6 postcode's two forecourts, BP's Holborough SF Connect and Shell's Ham Hill, sit among the borough's priciest at up to 181.9p unleaded and 203.9p diesel - more than 7p above Gulf Aylesford's borough-leading price just a few miles up the road. None of this is any one station overcharging - Edenbridge's two forecourts sit within 2p of each other - it simply means there's no cheaper option nearby to switch to, unlike in Maidstone or Tonbridge.

The same underlying Fuel Finder data behind this site's own tracker went live in Google Maps and Waze for the first time anywhere in the UK today, 8 October - so drivers no longer need a specialist site to compare prices before they travel. Fuel Finder, the government scheme behind the figures in this article, now covers 99% of all fuel sold on UK roads after it became compulsory in February for petrol stations to report price changes within 30 minutes or risk a fine from the Competition and Markets Authority. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says comparing prices this way can save a household with a car around £40 a year, calling it part of a wider push on living costs alongside the VAT cut on electricity bills and the £2 bus fare cap.

This site tracks these prices daily, station by station, across all four boroughs. Sources: West Kent Local News, Fuel Prices, GOV.UK, Drivers set to save as petrol prices launch on Google Maps