Photo: Ruth Sharville · CC BY-SA 2.0Chepstow records shoplifting at 2.9 times the rate of a typical town its size
In sum, crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put Chepstow at C− (#12 of 38 in Gwent): more crime per resident than 77% of UK towns. It has more violent crime than 76% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 78%. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Behind the grade sit 34.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 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 Chepstow
More crime than many places its size
Of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Chepstow has the 287th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Cheadle, Kirkham and Bordon, higher than New Ollerton and Ollerton, South Merstham and Holbeach. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Wales
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 ranks every neighbourhood in Wales on community safety. 11% of Chepstow’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 16% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Chepstow’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,733 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Chepstow 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, Chepstow runs highest on shoplifting (17.8 per 1,000 against 6.1), burglary (5.9 per 1,000 against 2.4) and robbery (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.5). Other crime sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 368 | 30.8 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 213 | 17.8 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 192 | 16.1 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 123 | 10.3 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 89 | 7.5 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 76 | 6.4 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 70 | 5.9 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 44 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 42 | 3.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 17 | 1.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 14 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 13 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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 Chepstow identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Chepstow’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 8% of violent and 6% 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. 592 crimes.
Of 428 towns its size, Chepstow is 287th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 249 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 274 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | 9,363 | 31.7 | 15.2 | 7.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 284 | New Ollerton and Ollerton Nottinghamshire | 10,870 | 35.5 | 12.9 | 13.9 | C− |
| 285 | South Merstham Surrey | 9,953 | 32.4 | 16.1 | 13.5 | C− |
| 286 | Holbeach Lincolnshire | 8,757 | 37.8 | 10.7 | 10.8 | C− |
| 287 | Chepstow Gwent | 11,939 | 34.2 | 14.4 | 20 | C− |
| 288 | Wells Somerset | 12,097 | 37.3 | 11.5 | 17.6 | C− |
| 289 | Caldicot Gwent | 9,813 | 34.8 | 14.1 | 9.8 | C− |
| 290 | Ulverston Cumbria | 11,219 | 37.3 | 11.5 | 8.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 361 | Ystrad Mynach Gwent | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | 6.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 368 | Risca Gwent | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | 8.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 428 | 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 Chepstow, and others in Gwent.
Crime in Chepstow 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 24 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 St Kingsmark, Mount Pleasant and Bulwark and Thornwell; highest in Chepstow Castle and Larkfield
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Kingsmark | 1,968 | 13.2 | 4.2 | |
| Mount Pleasant | 1,797 | 27.5 | 11.3 | |
| Bulwark and Thornwell | 5,021 | 29.3 | 9.7 | |
| Chepstow Castle and Larkfield | 3,153 | 58.6 | 29.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 422 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 373 | 73% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 128 | 78% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 103 | 48% violent |
| Police stations | 71 | 45% violent |
| Car parks | 70 | 30% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Chepstow Castle and Larkfield records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Chepstow. 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 Chepstow. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Chepstow’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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +56% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +30% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +1% (towns its size -4%).
1 in 9 Chepstow residents lives in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
32% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 16% 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.
Chepstow’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.
One person died in collisions on Chepstow’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 56 collisions with injuries inside Chepstow in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 21 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 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 Chepstow’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chepstow’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Chepstow had 36.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above 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 Chepstow’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Chepstow
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chepstow | 11,939 | 34.2 | 14.4 | C− |
| Tutshill and Sedbury | 3,618 | 27.9 | 5.6 | B− |
| Beachley | 1,120 | 5.8 | 1.9 | A+ |
| Portskewett | 1,627 | 18 | 3.7 | A− |
| Caer-went | 1,523 | 14.9 | 5.7 | A− |
| Caldicot | 9,813 | 34.8 | 14.1 | C− |
| Severn Beach | 2,208 | 23 | 8.3 | B− |
| Pilning | 1,400 | 14.3 | 7.4 | A− |
Chepstow records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Caldicot records more. Tutshill and Sedbury, 0.9 miles away, records 27.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Chepstow’s 34.2.
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 Chepstow 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 Chepstow
Is Chepstow safe?
Police recorded 34.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Chepstow’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 23% of UK towns. Among 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Chepstow is 287th from the least crime. 11% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Chepstow?
By council ward, St Kingsmark, Mount Pleasant and Bulwark and Thornwell record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.2, 27.5 and 29.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 58.6 in Chepstow Castle and Larkfield.
Is crime going up in Chepstow?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 56%, shoplifting and theft rose 30% 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 Chepstow?
Violence & sexual offences: 368 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (213) and public order (123), with 192 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Chepstow compare with Bradley Stoke?
Bradley Stoke records 23.9 violent and sexual offences and 8.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Chepstow’s 34.2 and 14.4, 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.