Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0Pensarn sees more crime per resident than almost any other UK town
Police recorded 10 cases of drugs in Pensarn in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 7.5 per 1,000 against a typical 0.6. The yearly rates were 100.8 violent and sexual offences and 25.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. On the record of crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D− for safety. Add to that, recorded violence rose 16% 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 Pensarn
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% more violent crime per resident in Pensarn than in the year before; across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
82% of Pensarn’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 0% 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 Pensarn, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 501 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pensarn against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Pensarn runs highest on drugs (7.5 per 1,000 against 0.6), public order (27.8 per 1,000 against 2.4) and anti-social behaviour (41.4 per 1,000 against 5.3).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 141 | 106.1 | 16.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 55 | 41.4 | 5.3 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 53 | 39.9 | 0 |
| Public order | not graded | 37 | 27.8 | 2.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 17 | 12.8 | 2.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 11 | 8.3 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 10 | 7.5 | 1.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 7.5 | 0.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 6 | 1.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 1.5 | 0 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 1,000 to 2,500 people.
Police in Pensarn identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 43% of Pensarn’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” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 13% of violent and 23% 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. 172 crimes.
How Pensarn compares with UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clipsham Rutland | 1,150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Higher Kinnerton Clwyd | 1,731 | 6 | 2.5 | 0.2 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Soughton Clwyd | 1,697 | 7.7 | 2.8 | 2.6 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 305 | Dwygyfylchi Clwyd | 1,403 | 13.1 | 4.8 | 3.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 351 | Llansanffraid Glan Conwy Clwyd | 1,663 | 14.4 | 4.2 | 2.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 1208 | Gelligaer Gwent | 1,436 | 85 | 26.9 | 13.5 | D− |
| 1209 | Toll Bar South Yorkshire | 1,213 | 79.1 | 35.7 | 6.9 | D− |
| 1210 | Bodelwyddan Clwyd | 1,785 | 99.5 | 15.9 | 26.9 | D− |
| 1211 | Pensarn Clwyd | 1,329 | 100.8 | 25.4 | 60.7 | D− |
| 1212 | Clyst Honiton Devon | 1,030 | 100.2 | 30.4 | 10.2 | D− |
| 1213 | Blunham Bedfordshire | 1,391 | 114.1 | 29.5 | 5.5 | D− |
| 1214 | Ingoldmells Lincolnshire | 1,928 | 259 | 64.7 | 57.2 | 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 Pensarn, and others in Clwyd.
How crime in Pensarn has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 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 +16% (towns its size +3%), homes and vehicles -41% (towns its size +0%), shoplifting and theft -23% (towns its size +4%), anti-social behaviour -5% (towns its size -1%).
Crime in Pensarn 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 54 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
One person died in collisions on Pensarn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 8 collisions with injuries inside Pensarn in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people (94%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; Pensarn’s one death is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Pensarn’s size at the median for UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people would see about 1 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Pensarn had 3.
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 Pensarn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pensarn
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensarn | 1,329 | 100.8 | 25.4 | D− |
| Abergele | 8,531 | 39.3 | 11.6 | C− |
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | 61.6 | 15.2 | D− |
| Llanddulas | 1,097 | 32.5 | 17.3 | C− |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 99.5 | 15.9 | D− |
| Mynydd Marian | 1,351 | 24.4 | 5.2 | B |
| Rhyl | 26,982 | 89.1 | 22.9 | D− |
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | 35.4 | 7.4 | C |
Pensarn records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Abergele, 0.9 miles away, records 39.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pensarn’s 100.8.
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 Pensarn 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 Pensarn
Is Pensarn safe?
Police recorded 100.8 violent and sexual offences and 25.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Pensarn’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Pensarn has less crime per resident than 0%.
Is crime going up in Pensarn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 41%, shoplifting and theft fell 23% and anti-social behaviour fell 5%. Across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Pensarn?
Violence & sexual offences: 141 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (53) and public order (37), with 55 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Pensarn 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 Pensarn’s 100.8 and 25.4, 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.