Photo: HelenK · CC BY-SA 2.0Set against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Thatcham records less crime than 68%
In a usual year, 29.7 violent and sexual offences and 8.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. It has less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 63% of UK towns, but less violent crime than only 33%. Violent crime barely moved in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Thatcham
One ward carries much of the rate
Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham ward recorded 727 of Thatcham’s 2,267 violent and sexual offences in three years: 78 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Thatcham the figure is 22.4. Where in Thatcham ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 228 UK towns of 18,000 to 34,000 people, Thatcham has the 63rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Thornton, Ewell and Abingdon-on-Thames, higher than Bushey, Market Harborough and Hailsham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 17% of Thatcham’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C+ for Thatcham, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 2,878 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Thatcham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 6 Thatcham residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
38% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Thatcham’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Thatcham runs highest on drugs (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.9). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 755 | 29.6 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 259 | 10.1 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 162 | 6.3 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 103 | 4 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 103 | 4 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 93 | 3.6 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 65 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 40 | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 33 | 1.3 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 30 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 17 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 17 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Lowest recorded crime in Thatcham West, Thatcham North East and Thatcham Central; highest in Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thatcham West | 7,320 | 19 | 7 | |
| Thatcham North East | 7,737 | 20.3 | 6.4 | |
| Thatcham Central | 7,373 | 27.9 | 8.8 | |
| Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham | 3,107 | 78 | 11.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals | 564 | 88% violent |
| Supermarkets | 347 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 101 | 59% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 91 | 35% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 29 | 66% homes & vehicles |
| Petrol stations | 23 | 57% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham records 3.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Thatcham. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Thatcham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Thatcham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Of 228 towns its size, Thatcham is 63rd from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Sandhurst Berkshire | 20,220 | 14.9 | 6.8 | 4.9 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Woodley Berkshire | 28,019 | 18.1 | 5.8 | 5.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Caversham Berkshire | 33,038 | 16.7 | 9 | 14.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Ascot Berkshire | 24,003 | 18.8 | 9.6 | 6.6 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 60 | Bushey Hertfordshire | 28,427 | 23.4 | 13.9 | 10.3 | C+ |
| 61 | Market Harborough Leicestershire | 24,162 | 25.1 | 12.2 | 14.9 | C+ |
| 62 | Hailsham East Sussex | 22,560 | 26.6 | 10.9 | 8.9 | C+ |
| 63 | Thatcham Berkshire | 25,537 | 29.7 | 8 | 10.3 | C+ |
| 64 | Newtownards Ards and North Down | 29,677 | 28.7 | 9.1 | 8.9 | C+ |
| 65 | Burntwood Staffordshire | 27,891 | 27.5 | 10.5 | 10 | C+ |
| 66 | Hythe and Dibden Purlieu Hampshire | 19,857 | 27.6 | 10.4 | 8.8 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 228 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Thatcham, and others in Berkshire.
Police in Thatcham identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Thatcham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (51% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 5% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 937 crimes.
Crime in Thatcham per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 11 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +0% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -26% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +4% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -18% (towns its size -4%).
No one died in a collision on Thatcham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 74 collisions with injuries inside Thatcham in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Thatcham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Thatcham’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Thatcham had 10.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Thatcham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Thatcham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thatcham | 25,537 | 29.7 | 8 | C+ |
| Upper Bucklebury | 1,036 | 20 | 12.6 | B− |
| Cold Ash | 2,267 | 5.7 | 4.3 | A+ |
| Newbury | 42,262 | 37.1 | 14.1 | C− |
| Hermitage | 2,224 | 11.1 | 6.9 | A |
| Kingsclere | 2,889 | 20.7 | 9.4 | B |
| Tadley | 14,767 | 19.6 | 7.4 | B |
| Woolton Hill and Highclere | 2,755 | 11 | 6.9 | A |
Thatcham records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Newbury records more. Upper Bucklebury, 1.8 miles away, records 20 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Thatcham’s 29.7.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 564 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Thatcham’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Thatcham sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Thatcham
Is Thatcham safe?
Police recorded 29.7 violent and sexual offences and 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Thatcham’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 39% of UK towns. Among 228 UK towns of 18,000 to 34,000 people, Thatcham is 63rd from the least crime. 17% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Thatcham?
By council ward, Thatcham West, Thatcham North East and Thatcham Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 19, 20.3 and 27.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 78 in Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham.
Is crime going up in Thatcham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 26%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 18%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Thatcham?
Violence & sexual offences: 755 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (162) and criminal damage & arson (103), with 259 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Thatcham compare with Newbury?
Newbury records 37.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Thatcham’s 29.7 and 8, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.