Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Middlewich has a higher rate per resident than 78% of UK towns
Each year brought 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 9.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Drugs: police recorded 61 in Middlewich in the 12 months to August 2026, 4.2 per 1,000 residents against 1.9 in a typical town its size. Weighing it all, Middlewich earns C for safety (#35 of 46 in Cheshire), with more crime per resident than 72% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. On top of that, violent crime was up 8% 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 Middlewich
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% more violent crime per resident in Middlewich than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage rose 20% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Middlewich has the 200th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Whittlesey, Buckhurst Hill and Tewkesbury, higher than Monmouth, Cleveleys and Skipton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C for Middlewich
A firm grade. Built on 1,925 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Middlewich against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Middlewich identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 40% of Middlewich’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 3% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (18% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 617 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Middlewich runs highest on drugs (4.2 per 1,000 against 1.9), public order (11.4 per 1,000 against 5.4) and other crime (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.8). Shoplifting and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 528 | 36.6 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 165 | 11.4 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 99 | 6.9 | 6.2 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 69 | 4.8 | 12.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 61 | 4.2 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 52 | 3.6 | 4.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 51 | 3.5 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 33 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 32 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 11 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 10 | 0.7 | 2.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 5 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
“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.
How Middlewich’s neighbourhoods rank in England
22% 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.
Middlewich’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.
How crime in Middlewich has moved
“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 +8% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +20% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -17% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -31% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Middlewich 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Of 350 towns its size, Middlewich is 200th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Davenham Cheshire | 13,840 | 18.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | A− |
| 13 | Poynton Cheshire | 13,015 | 16.4 | 5.4 | 8.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Lymm Cheshire | 11,547 | 16.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Knutsford Cheshire | 13,254 | 21.2 | 7.3 | 8.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 197 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| 198 | Cleveleys Lancashire | 11,121 | 32.5 | 11.9 | 11.1 | C |
| 199 | Skipton North Yorkshire | 15,050 | 31.3 | 13.1 | 13 | C |
| 200 | Middlewich Cheshire | 14,428 | 35.5 | 9 | 7.8 | C |
| 201 | Cirencester Gloucestershire | 17,715 | 34.1 | 10.5 | 20 | C |
| 202 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | 13,181 | 32.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | C |
| 203 | Eastwood Nottinghamshire | 18,890 | 29.8 | 14.9 | 22.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 350 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Middlewich, and others in Cheshire.
One person died in collisions on Middlewich’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 56 collisions with injuries inside Middlewich in five years, in which one person died (1 was a cyclist). 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 5 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 Middlewich’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Middlewich’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Middlewich had 25.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Middlewich’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Middlewich
Middlewich records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Winsford records more. Elworth, 3.5 miles away, records 23.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Middlewich’s 35.5.
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
- 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 Middlewich 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 Middlewich
Is Middlewich safe?
Police recorded 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Middlewich’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Middlewich is 200th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Middlewich?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 20%, shoplifting and theft fell 17% and anti-social behaviour fell 31%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Middlewich?
Violence & sexual offences: 528 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (165) and criminal damage & arson (99), with 69 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Middlewich compare with Crewe?
Crewe records 51.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Middlewich’s 35.5 and 9, 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.