What Are The UK’s Most and Least Burgled Towns?
If you’re thinking of moving to or starting a business in a new town, one of the first things you check is crime rate and particularly burglaries.
Research highlighted by security experts Locks Direct has revealed that, according to the latest data available, in the whole of the UK, Middlesbrough is the most dangerous town for break-ins.
It’s also clear that Plymouth is the safest when considering low burglary rates.
The safest towns are:
- Plymouth (2.07)
- Swindon (2.32)
- Milton Keynes (2.34)
- Bexley (3.0)
- Brighton & Hove (3.17)
- Norwich (3.18)
- Swansea (3.22)
- Reading (3.37)
- Luton (4.02)
- Havering (4.03)
Director at Locks Direct Tom Richardson, said: “It is always a concern to see burglaries happening anywhere, but Middlesbrough seems to have a particular problem.
The top ten most dangerous towns are:
- Middlesbrough (10.03)
- Hackney (8.72)
- Westminster (8.56)
- Haringey (8.30)
- Birmingham (7.84)
- Hammersmith & Fulham (7.41)
- Islington (7.38)
- Southwark (7.34)
- Leeds(7.30)
- Tower Hamlets (7.27)
“When comparing their crime rate of around 10 crimes per 1,000 residents to Plymouth, the most safe city for burglaries at around 2 crimes per 1,000 residents, the difference is particularly pronounced.
“The problem isn’t isolated to the north of the country either. Areas of London feature quite prominently and there’s a real focus around the central and southwestern areas of the city.
“Big commercial cities like Birmingham and Leeds also feature, which suggests this is primarily a city problem.
“Middlesbrough’s position, while unfortunate, could be a variety of factors, but more needs to be done by individuals and businesses to prevent burglaries happening in the first place. A lot of what we see as security experts can be headed off if preventative measures can be taken.”
Overall, burglaries were actually down year on year for 2021. Last year, England & Wales's police forces received 235,280 crime reports about burglary. This was a decrease of 14% from 2020's figure of 274,899 reports of burglary.
This means there was an overall crime rate of just 3.9 per 1,000 people in 2021 and a rate of 4.6 per 1,000 people for 2020.
Split regionally, the most burgled area was actually South Yorkshire, which takes in areas like Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster.
Regionally, the most burgled places were:
- South Yorkshire (6.63)
- West Midlands (6.41)
- Bristol (6.11)
- London (5.85)
- West Yorkshire (5.09)
- Merseyside (4.83)
- East Riding of Yorkshire (4.75)
- South Glamorgan (4.47)
- Durham (4.47)
- Lancashire (4.28)
Tom added: “To better protect your home or business, physical locks are paramount and ensuring that you have the right quality of security in place is really important.”
To find out more about security or improving your home or business in terms of safety, visit the Locks Direct website here: https://www.locksdirect.co.uk/
About Locks Direct
Locks Direct is a family-run business with a focus on delivering quality security solutions to keep you and your belongings protected. Operating in the security market for almost 15 years, Locks Direct sells locks wholesale to businesses and organisations, as well as direct to consumer. Located in South Lincolnshire, the company supplies to customers across the UK.
Source for data: https://crimerate.co.uk/
