Photo: Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0Colwyn Bay has more crime per resident than 94% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside Colwyn Bay’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #32 of 39 in Clwyd. At 1.7 per 1,000 residents, possession of weapons locally runs well past the 0.7 of a typical town its size (49 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Each year brought 58.1 violent and sexual offences and 15.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Colwyn Bay
More crime than many places its size
Of 230 UK towns of 20,000 to 40,000 people, Colwyn Bay has the 207th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Morecambe, Newark-on-Trent and Wisbech, higher than Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock, Newton Aycliffe and Redcar. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
42% of Colwyn Bay’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 15% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D for Colwyn Bay, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 6,443 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Colwyn Bay against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
42% of Colwyn Bay residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
15% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 42% in the highest-crime 20%. The community safety domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and fire incidents where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Colwyn Bay’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (community safety domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Wales’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Among 230 towns its size, Colwyn Bay ranks 207th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 204 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock Essex | 23,589 | 39.9 | 33.1 | 44.4 | D |
| 205 | Newton Aycliffe County Durham | 25,760 | 48.3 | 24.9 | 19.7 | D |
| 206 | Redcar North Yorkshire | 37,666 | 48.8 | 24.6 | 19.2 | D |
| 207 | Colwyn Bay Clwyd | 29,273 | 58.1 | 15.4 | 17.8 | D |
| 208 | Bridlington East Riding of Yorkshire | 34,831 | 56.4 | 17.3 | 23.6 | D |
| 209 | Newport Isle of Wight | 25,396 | 61.2 | 13.2 | 24.3 | D |
| 210 | Pontefract West Yorkshire | 32,982 | 57.2 | 17.8 | 19.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 229 | Rhyl Clwyd | 26,982 | 89.1 | 22.9 | 29 | D− |
| 230 | 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 Colwyn Bay, and others in Clwyd.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Colwyn Bay runs highest on possession of weapons (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.7), anti-social behaviour (25.7 per 1,000 against 12.4) and violence & sexual offences (53.8 per 1,000 against 30.4). Vehicle crime sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,575 | 53.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 753 | 25.7 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 271 | 9.3 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 265 | 9.1 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 257 | 8.8 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 164 | 5.6 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 88 | 3 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 84 | 2.9 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 71 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 49 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 45 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 14 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.2 | 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.
Police in Colwyn Bay identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 55% of Colwyn Bay’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 10% 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. 2,272 crimes.
Crime in Colwyn Bay 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 15 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Llandrillo-yn-Rhos, Mochdre and Rhiw; highest in Llysfaen
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llandrillo-yn-Rhos | 7,772 | 40.1 | 12.7 | |
| Mochdre | 2,005 | 47.2 | 9.8 | |
| Rhiw | 6,025 | 45.4 | 12.4 | |
| Colwyn | 4,560 | 48.6 | 12.4 | |
| Eirias | 3,568 | 54.9 | 11.4 | |
| Glyn | 4,549 | 110.6 | 30.5 | |
| Llysfaen | 794 | 121.7 | 26.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 674 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 574 | 66% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 403 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 222 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 177 | 47% violent |
| Hospitals | 150 | 81% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Llysfaen records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Colwyn Bay. 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 Colwyn Bay. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Colwyn Bay’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
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 -3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -13% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -24% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -4% (towns its size -4%).
Three people died in collisions on Colwyn Bay’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 96 collisions with injuries inside Colwyn Bay in five years, in which three people died. 36 people were killed or seriously injured: 13 on foot and 6 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 Colwyn Bay’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Colwyn Bay’s own rate (2.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Colwyn Bay had 24.9 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). 36% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Colwyn Bay’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Colwyn Bay
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colwyn Bay | 29,273 | 58.1 | 15.4 | D |
| Penrhyn Bay | 4,201 | 13 | 3.7 | A |
| Mynydd Marian | 1,351 | 24.4 | 5.2 | B |
| Llansanffraid Glan Conwy | 1,663 | 14.4 | 4.2 | A |
| Llanddulas | 1,097 | 32.5 | 17.3 | C− |
| Conwy | 15,706 | 31 | 10.7 | C |
| Llandudno | 14,699 | 78.4 | 23.6 | D− |
| Abergele | 8,531 | 39.3 | 11.6 | C− |
Colwyn Bay records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Llandudno records more. Penrhyn Bay, 2.4 miles away, records 13 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Colwyn Bay’s 58.1.
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 150 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Colwyn Bay’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 Colwyn Bay 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 Colwyn Bay
Is Colwyn Bay safe?
Police recorded 58.1 violent and sexual offences and 15.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Colwyn Bay’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among 230 UK towns of 20,000 to 40,000 people, Colwyn Bay is 207th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Colwyn Bay?
By council ward, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos, Mochdre and Rhiw record the least violent and household crime per resident: 40.1, 47.2 and 45.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 121.7 in Llysfaen.
Is crime going up in Colwyn Bay?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 13%, shoplifting and theft fell 24% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Colwyn Bay?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,575 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (271) and criminal damage & arson (265), with 753 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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 · Welsh Government Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025, community safety domain by LSOA · 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.