Photo: Roger A Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Ilfracombe sees more crime per resident than nine in ten UK towns
Shoplifting: police recorded 121 in Ilfracombe in the 12 months to August 2026, 13.2 per 1,000 residents against 1.8 in a typical town its size. Per 1,000 residents a year, 52.1 violent and sexual offences and 16.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. The grade is D, built on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally dropped 7% 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 Ilfracombe
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% less violent crime per resident in Ilfracombe 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 rose 47% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
31% of Ilfracombe’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 27% 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 sits behind Ilfracombe’s D
A firm grade. Built on 1,834 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ilfracombe 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, Ilfracombe runs highest on shoplifting (13.2 per 1,000 against 1.8), possession of weapons (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.4) and criminal damage & arson (14.9 per 1,000 against 4.5).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 442 | 48 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 226 | 24.6 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 137 | 14.9 | 4.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 121 | 13.2 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 82 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 67 | 7.3 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 30 | 3.3 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 28 | 3 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 27 | 2.9 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 26 | 2.8 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 15 | 1.6 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 12 | 1.3 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
“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 Ilfracombe 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 |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Bovey Tracey Devon | 6,241 | 14.9 | 5.2 | 2.9 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 71 | Braunton Devon | 6,610 | 17.3 | 7.8 | 4.9 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 86 | Ottery St Mary Devon | 6,043 | 20.6 | 6.3 | 4.9 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 91 | Seaton Devon | 7,429 | 22.6 | 4.7 | 4.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 444 | Clayton-le-Moors Lancashire | 7,969 | 46.6 | 20.8 | 7.9 | D |
| 445 | Acrefair and Cefn-mawr Clwyd | 6,905 | 47.9 | 19.7 | 7 | D |
| 446 | Maryport Cumbria | 8,526 | 50.3 | 18 | 12.6 | D |
| 447 | Ilfracombe Devon | 9,199 | 52.1 | 16.8 | 23.3 | D |
| 448 | Thurcroft South Yorkshire | 6,101 | 46.8 | 24.4 | 11.4 | D |
| 449 | Bargod Gwent | 8,034 | 52.4 | 18.8 | 12.5 | D |
| 450 | Crook County Durham | 9,717 | 45.4 | 26 | 13.1 | 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 Ilfracombe, and others in Devon.
Crime in Ilfracombe 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 21 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 22 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Ilfracombe identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Ilfracombe’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% 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. 541 crimes.
31% of Ilfracombe residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
27% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 31% 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.
Ilfracombe’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 Ilfracombe has moved
Devon & Cornwall Police published three months short or not at all (Sep 2023, Oct 2023 and Nov 2023), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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 -7% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +47% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -8% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -31% (towns its size +0%).
Where in Ilfracombe police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 536 | 68% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 240 | 40% violent |
| Shopping areas | 107 | 49% violent |
| Petrol stations | 76 | 47% violent |
| Nightclubs | 56 | 48% violent |
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 Ilfracombe. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Ilfracombe’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 30 collisions with injuries inside Ilfracombe in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Ilfracombe is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Ilfracombe’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 8 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Ilfracombe had 5.
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 Ilfracombe’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ilfracombe
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilfracombe | 9,199 | 52.1 | 16.8 | D |
| Chambercombe | 1,502 | 15 | 9.7 | B+ |
| Combe Martin | 2,707 | 25.8 | 6.7 | B− |
| Braunton | 6,610 | 17.3 | 7.8 | B+ |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 20.5 | 3.4 | B+ |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 17.8 | 5.7 | B+ |
| Barnstaple | 31,271 | 48 | 14.6 | D |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 15.6 | 4.7 | A− |
Ilfracombe records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Chambercombe, 0.8 miles away, records 15 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ilfracombe’s 52.1.
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
- Some months are short. Devon & Cornwall Police published September 2023, October 2023 and November 2023 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Ilfracombe 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 Ilfracombe
Is Ilfracombe safe?
Police recorded 52.1 violent and sexual offences and 16.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ilfracombe’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 7% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Ilfracombe has less crime per resident than 6%.
Is crime going up in Ilfracombe?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 47%, shoplifting and theft fell 8% and anti-social behaviour fell 31%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Ilfracombe town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 56 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 48% of them violent. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in October.
What is the most common crime in Ilfracombe?
Violence & sexual offences: 442 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (137) and shoplifting (121), with 226 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ilfracombe compare with Barnstaple?
Barnstaple records 48 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ilfracombe’s 52.1 and 16.8, 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.