Photo: Julian P Guffogg · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Ledbury records more violent crime than 61% of UK towns
The typical town its size sees 1.8 cases of shoplifting per 1,000 residents; Ledbury sees 3, or 25 in the 12 months to August 2026. Scored on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on C+ for safety: #1 of 5 in Herefordshire. Violence recorded locally dropped 13% in a year. Each year brought 26.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Ledbury
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Ledbury 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 430 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000 people, Ledbury has the 219th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Pickering, Buntingford and Polesworth and Dordon, higher than Great Dunmow, Penkridge and Richmond. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 20% of Ledbury’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% 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.
The C+ for Ledbury, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 936 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ledbury against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 5 Ledbury residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
63% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Ledbury’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.
Police in Ledbury identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Ledbury’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” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 11% 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. 328 crimes.
How crime in Ledbury 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 +0% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -18% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +6% (towns its size +0%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Ledbury runs highest on shoplifting (3 per 1,000 against 1.8), drugs (1.6 per 1,000 against 1) and public order (5.3 per 1,000 against 3.6). Other theft sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 192 | 23 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 89 | 10.7 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 50 | 6 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 44 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 25 | 3 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 24 | 2.9 | 2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 22 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 21 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 13 | 1.6 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 12 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Ledbury North, Ledbury West and Ledbury South; highest in Ledbury South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ledbury North | 2,321 | 9.8 | 5.9 | |
| Ledbury West | 3,571 | 25.8 | 9.3 | |
| Ledbury South | 2,452 | 43.9 | 17.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 130 | 63% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 54 | 24% violent |
| Car parks | 45 | 49% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 32 | 59% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 23 | 39% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Ledbury South records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Ledbury. 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 Ledbury. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Ledbury’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Ledbury 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Ledbury is 219th of 430 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 216 | Great Dunmow Essex | 10,395 | 24 | 13 | 6.8 | C+ |
| 217 | Penkridge Staffordshire | 8,364 | 27.5 | 9.8 | 6.9 | C+ |
| 218 | Richmond North Yorkshire | 8,076 | 29 | 8.4 | 5.7 | C+ |
| 219 | Ledbury Herefordshire | 8,344 | 26.7 | 10.8 | 7.6 | C+ |
| 220 | Barrow upon Soar Leicestershire | 6,823 | 24.1 | 13.5 | 6.8 | C+ |
| 221 | Whitwick Leicestershire | 10,455 | 26 | 11.6 | 7.7 | C+ |
| 222 | Godmanchester Cambridgeshire | 7,714 | 27.9 | 9.7 | 9.1 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 240 | Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire | 10,993 | 28.4 | 11 | 17.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 430 | 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 Ledbury, and others in Herefordshire.
No one died in a collision on Ledbury’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 26 collisions with injuries inside Ledbury in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 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 Ledbury is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Ledbury’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 7 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Ledbury had 6.
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 Ledbury’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ledbury
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ledbury | 8,344 | 26.7 | 10.8 | C+ |
| Colwall Stone | 1,857 | 13.8 | 5.7 | A− |
| Malvern Wells | 1,757 | 8.2 | 6.3 | A |
| Welland | 1,309 | 19.9 | 4.1 | B+ |
| Great Malvern | 33,194 | 28.5 | 10.7 | C+ |
| Corse | 1,217 | 13.9 | 3.4 | A |
| Newent | 5,360 | 39.3 | 10.7 | C− |
| Upton upon Severn | 2,403 | 25.7 | 11.1 | C+ |
Ledbury records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Great Malvern and Newent record more. Colwall Stone, 4.1 miles away, records 13.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ledbury’s 26.7.
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 Ledbury 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 Ledbury
Is Ledbury safe?
Police recorded 26.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ledbury’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 40% of UK towns. Among 430 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000 people, Ledbury is 219th from the least crime. 20% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Ledbury?
By council ward, Ledbury North, Ledbury West and Ledbury South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.8, 25.8 and 43.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 43.9 in Ledbury South.
Is crime going up in Ledbury?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 18% and anti-social behaviour rose 6%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ledbury?
Violence & sexual offences: 192 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (50) and public order (44), with 89 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ledbury compare with Hereford?
Hereford records 41.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ledbury’s 26.7 and 10.8, 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.