Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Grain records criminal damage & arson at 2.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime barely moved in a year. Weighing it all, Grain earns C+ for safety, with close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. Of all the kinds of crime, criminal damage & arson is where Grain departs most from towns its size: 8.1 per 1,000 against 3.2.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Grain
More crime than many places its size
Of 1,214 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000 people, Grain has the 947th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Templecombe, Harlech and North Leigh, higher than Hartwell, Woolpit and Minsterley. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C+ for Grain, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 186 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Grain 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, Grain runs highest on criminal damage & arson (8.1 per 1,000 against 3.2) and violence & sexual offences (23.7 per 1,000 against 16.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 41 | 23.7 | 16.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 14 | 8.1 | 3.2 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 9 | 5.2 | 5.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 8 | 4.6 | 2.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 5 | 2.9 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 2.3 | 1.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 1.2 | 0 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 0 | 0 | 1.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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.
Grain places 947th of 1,214 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clipsham Rutland | 1,150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Plaxtol Kent | 1,137 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 1.2 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Challock Kent | 1,089 | 5.2 | 3.1 | 2.1 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 77 | Lympne Kent | 1,074 | 9.3 | 2.5 | 2.2 | A+ |
| 78 | Guston Kent | 1,684 | 7.5 | 4.4 | 3.6 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 944 | Hartwell Northamptonshire | 1,493 | 28.8 | 6.9 | 3.6 | C+ |
| 945 | Woolpit Suffolk | 1,838 | 22.5 | 13.2 | 6.7 | C+ |
| 946 | Minsterley Shropshire | 1,719 | 27 | 8.7 | 9.3 | C+ |
| 947 | Grain Kent | 1,728 | 25.7 | 10.2 | 4.4 | C+ |
| 948 | Biddenden Kent | 1,345 | 24.3 | 11.7 | 5.2 | C+ |
| 949 | Winchelsea Beach East Sussex | 1,027 | 22.7 | 13.3 | 5.5 | C+ |
| 950 | Ringstead Northamptonshire | 1,369 | 27.8 | 8.3 | 2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 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 Grain, and others in Kent.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +2% (towns its size +3%).
For every 1,000 residents, about 25 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Grain’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 2 collisions with injuries inside Grain in five years. 0 people were killed or seriously injured.
Most UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people (94%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Grain is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Grain’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; Grain had 0.
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 Grain’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Grain
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain | 1,728 | 25.7 | 10.2 | C+ |
| Sheerness | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | D− |
| Allhallows | 1,684 | 44.5 | 13.7 | D |
| Queenborough | 3,915 | 49.7 | 23.4 | D |
| Halfway Houses | 4,396 | 25.7 | 10.5 | C+ |
| Minster (Swale) | 16,735 | 29 | 13 | C |
| Iwade | 4,533 | 15.2 | 5.7 | A− |
| Lower Halstow | 1,210 | 10.5 | 7.2 | A |
Grain records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Iwade, 5.5 miles away, records 15.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Grain’s 25.7.
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 Grain 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 Grain
Is Grain safe?
Police recorded 25.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Grain’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 43% of UK towns. Among 1,214 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000 people, Grain is 947th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Grain?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 7%, shoplifting and theft rose 50% and anti-social behaviour fell 47%. Across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Grain?
Violence & sexual offences: 41 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (14) and other theft (8), with 9 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Grain compare with Southend-on-Sea?
Southend-on-Sea records 48.3 violent and sexual offences and 17.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Grain’s 25.7 and 10.2, 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.