Photo: Christopher Hilton · CC BY-SA 2.0Bromley sees more burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident than 93% of UK towns
Violent crime barely moved in a year. Of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 85% record more crime per resident. Overall, it grades C for safety (#7 of 33 in London). Behind the grade sit 25.7 violent and sexual offences and 20.8 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 Bromley
Less crime than most places its size
Of 39 UK towns and cities of 228,000 to 439,000 people, Bromley has the 4th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Waltham Forest, Luton and Ealing, higher than Harrow, Bexley and Barnet. 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. 14% of Bromley’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 10% 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 grade: C for Bromley
A firm grade. Built on 45,032 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bromley 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, Bromley runs highest on theft from the person (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.7), vehicle crime (10.6 per 1,000 against 4.9) and robbery (1.9 per 1,000 against 1.4). Other crime and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 7,712 | 23.7 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 5,713 | 17.6 | 17.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3,438 | 10.6 | 4.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,781 | 8.5 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,879 | 5.8 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,847 | 5.7 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,304 | 4 | 7.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,241 | 3.8 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,199 | 3.7 | 3.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 616 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 550 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Other crime | not graded | 371 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 175 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 133 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Police in Bromley identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 86% of Bromley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 39% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (43% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 2% 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. 15,483 crimes.
Towns its size: Bromley comes 4th of 39
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 16 | C+ |
| 2 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 26.1 | 17.5 | 14.3 | C |
| 3 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 25.3 | 21 | 18.8 | C |
| 4 | Bromley London | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | 17.4 | C |
| 5 | Wandsworth London | 326,725 | 27.7 | 18.9 | 23 | C |
| 6 | Havering London | 259,401 | 29 | 18.1 | 17.7 | C |
| 7 | Redbridge London | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | 18.7 | C− |
| 8 | Waltham Forest London | 278,129 | 28.5 | 21 | 23.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Ealing London | 367,271 | 33.6 | 22.2 | 20.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Hillingdon London | 307,089 | 33.4 | 23 | 23.6 | C− |
| 13 | Enfield London | 329,822 | 32.6 | 24 | 20.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Bradford West Yorkshire | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | 19.3 | 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 Bromley, and others in London.
Lowest recorded crime in Chelsfield, West Wickham and Shortlands & Park Langley; highest in Bromley Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsfield | 10,557 | 14 | 13 | |
| West Wickham | 14,771 | 11.6 | 15.6 | |
| Shortlands & Park Langley | 16,205 | 13.9 | 14.8 | |
| Bickley & Sundridge | 17,207 | 12.5 | 16.5 | |
| Hayes & Coney Hall | 15,436 | 13.9 | 15.6 | |
| Farnborough & Crofton | 17,701 | 23 | 12.7 | |
| Chislehurst | 15,568 | 17.9 | 19 | |
| Orpington | 11,663 | 19.3 | 18.7 | |
| Bromley Common & Holwood | 18,775 | 22 | 16.3 | |
| Biggin Hill | 10,472 | 20.3 | 18.1 | |
| Clock House | 17,358 | 18.3 | 20.4 | |
| Petts Wood & Knoll | 17,256 | 20.5 | 20.7 | |
| St Mary Cray | 18,438 | 24.9 | 22.8 | |
| Beckenham Town & Copers Cope | 16,357 | 25.1 | 22.9 | |
| Plaistow | 13,169 | 27.2 | 22.4 | |
| Darwin | 4,270 | 24.8 | 28.6 | |
| Kelsey & Eden Park | 15,465 | 40.2 | 19.1 | |
| Penge & Cator | 18,911 | 34 | 26.3 | |
| Mottingham | 11,489 | 35.3 | 25 | |
| Crystal Palace & Anerley | 12,032 | 39.4 | 22.4 | |
| St Paul's Cray | 16,975 | 41.8 | 33.7 | |
| Bromley Town | 15,394 | 55 | 27.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,392 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 4,841 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 2,778 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,315 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 748 | 50% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 654 | 41% violent |
| Nightclubs | 333 | 43% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 193 | 31% violent |
| College and university buildings | 157 | 27% shoplifting & theft |
| Parks and open spaces | 130 | 27% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Bromley Town records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Bromley. 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 Bromley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bromley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
1 in 7 Bromley residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
41% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 10% 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.
Bromley’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.
Crime in Bromley 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 18 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -13% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -8% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +5% (towns its size -2%).
12 people died in collisions on Bromley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 2,868 collisions with injuries inside Bromley in five years, in which 12 people died (4 were pedestrians). 504 people were killed or seriously injured: 150 on foot and 93 on a bicycle.
That is 0.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Bromley had 31.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 30% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Bromley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bromley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bromley | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | C |
| Lewisham | 300,764 | 38.8 | 21.2 | D |
| Croydon | 389,242 | 36.3 | 20.5 | D |
| Greenwich | 288,117 | 38.3 | 20.8 | D |
| Crockenhill | 1,569 | 14 | 18.9 | B− |
| Swanley | 17,209 | 35.7 | 16.8 | C− |
| Joyden's Wood | 4,912 | 12.5 | 11.7 | B+ |
| Bexley | 246,074 | 26.1 | 17.5 | C |
Bromley records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Crockenhill, 5.8 miles away, records 14 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bromley’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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 748 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Bromley’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Bromley 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 Bromley
Is Bromley safe?
Police recorded 25.7 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 Bromley’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 26% of UK towns. Among 39 UK towns of 228,000 to 439,000 people, Bromley is 4th from the least crime. 14% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Bromley?
By council ward, Chelsfield, West Wickham and Shortlands & Park Langley record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14, 11.6 and 13.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 55 in Bromley Town.
Is crime going up in Bromley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 13%, shoplifting and theft fell 8% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Bromley town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 333 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 43% of them violent, and Bromley Town ward records 55 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in January.
What is the most common crime in Bromley?
Violence & sexual offences: 7,712 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (3,438) and shoplifting (2,781), with 5,713 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bromley compare with Croydon?
Croydon records 36.3 violent and sexual offences and 20.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bromley’s 25.7 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 · 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.