Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Kinmel Bay has more crime per resident than 96% of UK towns
Recorded violence fell 13% in a year. Scored on crimes police recorded inside Kinmel Bay’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D− for safety: #36 of 39 in Clwyd. At 3.5 per 1,000 residents, drugs in the town runs well past the 1 of a typical town its size (32 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Behind the grade sit 61.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Kinmel Bay
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Kinmel Bay than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 24% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
59% of Kinmel Bay’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 14% 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.
What’s behind Kinmel Bay’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,077 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Kinmel 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.
59% of Kinmel Bay residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
14% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 59% 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.
Kinmel 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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Kinmel Bay runs highest on drugs (3.5 per 1,000 against 1), violence & sexual offences (56.6 per 1,000 against 22.4) and public order (8.2 per 1,000 against 3.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 510 | 56.6 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 145 | 16.1 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 74 | 8.2 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 73 | 8.1 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 59 | 6.5 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 32 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 23 | 2.6 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 19 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 19 | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 9 | 1 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 9 | 1 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
How Kinmel Bay compares with UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 106 | Broughton Clwyd | 6,532 | 21.2 | 7.2 | 22.2 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 344 | Brynteg Clwyd | 9,229 | 34.6 | 13.5 | 4.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 367 | Abergele Clwyd | 8,531 | 39.3 | 11.6 | 11.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 371 | Gwersyllt Clwyd | 7,112 | 38.1 | 13.4 | 9.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 461 | Annfield Plain County Durham | 7,786 | 50.6 | 24.5 | 10.8 | D |
| 462 | Shotton Clwyd | 6,500 | 57.9 | 17.9 | 31.8 | D |
| 463 | Thurnscoe South Yorkshire | 9,133 | 48 | 28.3 | 10.5 | D |
| 464 | Kinmel Bay Clwyd | 9,016 | 61.6 | 15.2 | 9.2 | D− |
| 465 | Warmsworth South Yorkshire | 11,317 | 47.6 | 31.4 | 19.4 | D− |
| 466 | Featherstone West Yorkshire | 11,657 | 62.1 | 17.8 | 15.7 | D− |
| 467 | Padiham Lancashire | 10,121 | 56.6 | 25.4 | 12.4 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 487 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Kinmel Bay, and others in Clwyd.
Crime in Kinmel 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 8 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Kinmel Bay has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 -13% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -24% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -9% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +4% (towns its size +0%).
Police in Kinmel Bay identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Kinmel Bay’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 19% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 8% 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. 694 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Pen-sarn Pentre Mawr, Kinmel Bay and Towyn; highest in Towyn
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pen-sarn Pentre Mawr | 1,104 | 38.9 | 9.4 | |
| Kinmel Bay | 5,646 | 50.4 | 13.5 | |
| Towyn | 2,266 | 100.5 | 22.2 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Towyn records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Kinmel Bay.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Kinmel Bay’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.
No one died in a collision on Kinmel Bay’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 38 collisions with injuries inside Kinmel Bay in five years. 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 10 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Kinmel Bay is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Kinmel Bay had 39.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Kinmel Bay’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Kinmel Bay
Kinmel Bay records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Rhuddlan, 2.6 miles away, records 35.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kinmel Bay’s 61.6.
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 Kinmel 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 Kinmel Bay
Is Kinmel Bay safe?
Police recorded 61.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Kinmel Bay’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 4% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Kinmel Bay has less crime per resident than 4%.
What are the safest areas of Kinmel Bay?
By council ward, Pen-sarn Pentre Mawr, Kinmel Bay and Towyn record the least violent and household crime per resident: 38.9, 50.4 and 100.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 100.5 in Towyn.
Is crime going up in Kinmel Bay?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 24%, shoplifting and theft fell 9% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Kinmel Bay?
Violence & sexual offences: 510 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (74) and criminal damage & arson (73), with 145 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Kinmel Bay compare with Colwyn Bay?
Colwyn Bay records 58.1 violent and sexual offences and 15.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Kinmel Bay’s 61.6 and 15.2, 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 · 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.