Photo: Cornishstrongbitter at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Abergavenny than in 92% of UK towns
Public order runs at 16.9 per 1,000 residents in Abergavenny, against 5.4 in a typical town its size: police recorded 232 in the 12 months to August 2026. Annual rates stand at 47.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand 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: #24 of 38 in Gwent. Recorded violence rose 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 Abergavenny
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% more violent crime per resident in Abergavenny 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 13% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Abergavenny’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 2,799 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Abergavenny 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, Abergavenny runs highest on public order (16.9 per 1,000 against 5.4), anti-social behaviour (30 per 1,000 against 12.4) and criminal damage & arson (14.6 per 1,000 against 6.2). Other crime sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 645 | 47.1 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 411 | 30 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 232 | 16.9 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 200 | 14.6 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 177 | 12.9 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 96 | 7 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 62 | 4.5 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 41 | 3 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 33 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 21 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 11 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 7 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 5 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| 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 Abergavenny compares with UK towns of 10,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 193 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 225 | Chepstow Gwent | 11,939 | 34.2 | 14.4 | 20 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 285 | Ystrad Mynach Gwent | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | 6.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 289 | Risca Gwent | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | 8.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 296 | Conisbrough South Yorkshire | 11,465 | 43.8 | 21.5 | 9 | D |
| 297 | Waltham Cross Hertfordshire | 11,936 | 43.5 | 21.8 | 30.3 | D |
| 298 | Filton Gloucestershire | 10,955 | 43.4 | 22.4 | 19.8 | D |
| 299 | Abergavenny Gwent | 13,689 | 47.5 | 20.8 | 21.3 | D |
| 300 | Chertsey Surrey | 14,558 | 50.6 | 17.8 | 14.4 | D |
| 301 | Blaydon Tyne and Wear | 14,237 | 43.4 | 25.1 | 51.8 | D |
| 302 | Newhaven East Sussex | 12,857 | 51.1 | 18.4 | 26 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 332 | 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 Abergavenny, and others in Gwent.
Crime in Abergavenny 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 22 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 20 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Abergavenny’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
11% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 24% 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.
Abergavenny’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.
How crime in Abergavenny 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 +7% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +13% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -6% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +0% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Cantref, Mardy and Grofield; highest in Pen Y Fal
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantref | 2,103 | 22.8 | 13.5 | |
| Mardy | 1,257 | 33.4 | 10.9 | |
| Grofield | 2,130 | 34.7 | 18.3 | |
| Park | 2,049 | 42.1 | 18.9 | |
| Croesonen | 1,966 | 60.5 | 18 | |
| Lansdown | 2,307 | 60.1 | 24.1 | |
| Pen Y Fal | 1,877 | 68.9 | 35.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 434 | 34% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 294 | 33% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 239 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 122 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 67 | 46% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Pen Y Fal records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Abergavenny. 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 Abergavenny. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Abergavenny’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 66% of Abergavenny’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 4% 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. 947 crimes.
One person died in collisions on Abergavenny’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 32 collisions with injuries inside Abergavenny in five years, in which one person died. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 1 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 Abergavenny’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Abergavenny’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Abergavenny had 18.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below 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 Abergavenny’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Abergavenny
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abergavenny | 13,689 | 47.5 | 20.8 | D |
| Llanfoist | 2,007 | 36.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| Govilon | 1,342 | 13.2 | 4 | A |
| Gilwern | 2,184 | 20.2 | 7.9 | B |
| Blaenavon | 5,637 | 58.2 | 23.5 | D− |
| Crickhowell | 2,108 | 23.3 | 5.9 | B |
| Penperlleni | 1,396 | 18.2 | 5 | A− |
| Abersychan | 7,495 | 45 | 19.5 | D |
Abergavenny records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Blaenavon records more. Llanfoist, 1.2 miles away, records 36.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Abergavenny’s 47.5.
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 Abergavenny 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 Abergavenny
Is Abergavenny safe?
Police recorded 47.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Abergavenny’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 8% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Abergavenny has less crime per resident than 14%.
What are the safest areas of Abergavenny?
By council ward, Cantref, Mardy and Grofield record the least violent and household crime per resident: 22.8, 33.4 and 34.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 68.9 in Pen Y Fal.
Is crime going up in Abergavenny?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 13%, shoplifting and theft fell 6% 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 Abergavenny?
Violence & sexual offences: 645 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (232) and criminal damage & arson (200), with 411 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Abergavenny compare with Pontypool?
Pontypool records 47 violent and sexual offences and 18.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Abergavenny’s 47.5 and 20.8, 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 · 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.