Photo: Robin Stott · CC BY-SA 2.0Lewisham records theft from the person at 6.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Of all the kinds of crime, theft from the person is where Lewisham departs most from towns its size: 4.1 per 1,000 against 0.7. Its overall Safety Grade is D (#20 of 33 in London): more crime per resident than 88% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 11% 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 Lewisham
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Lewisham than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 14% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a borough its size
Of 41 UK towns and cities of 211,000 to 406,000 people, Lewisham has the 19th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Southwark, Hackney and Cardiff, higher than Hounslow, Croydon and Greenwich. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
28% of Lewisham’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 2% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D for Lewisham, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 53,826 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Lewisham 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, Lewisham runs highest on theft from the person (4.1 per 1,000 against 0.7), robbery (3.6 per 1,000 against 1.4) and vehicle crime (8.7 per 1,000 against 4.9). 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 | 11,154 | 37.1 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 6,990 | 23.2 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3,143 | 10.5 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2,604 | 8.7 | 4.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 2,503 | 8.3 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 2,223 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,667 | 5.5 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,595 | 5.3 | 3.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,304 | 4.3 | 7.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1,244 | 4.1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1,070 | 3.6 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 423 | 1.4 | 2.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 357 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 349 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Police in Lewisham identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 83% of Lewisham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 43% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (39% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 3% 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. 18,067 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Evelyn, Telegraph Hill and Lee Green; highest in Lewisham Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evelyn | 14,428 | 26.3 | 14.2 | |
| Telegraph Hill | 16,916 | 25.3 | 15.9 | |
| Lee Green | 15,020 | 25.3 | 18.3 | |
| Crofton Park | 15,425 | 26.2 | 18.3 | |
| Forest Hill | 15,173 | 27.5 | 18.3 | |
| Grove Park | 15,729 | 27.9 | 19.4 | |
| Brockley | 17,501 | 31.8 | 19.7 | |
| Perry Vale | 18,661 | 30 | 22.1 | |
| Sydenham | 16,969 | 33.3 | 21.3 | |
| Hither Green | 20,145 | 35.8 | 20 | |
| New Cross Gate | 11,071 | 36.3 | 19.9 | |
| Catford South | 17,261 | 34 | 23.8 | |
| Blackheath | 16,181 | 40.3 | 18.9 | |
| Downham | 18,347 | 39 | 22.5 | |
| Ladywell | 15,573 | 45.7 | 17.1 | |
| Bellingham | 11,663 | 43.8 | 24.8 | |
| Deptford | 17,010 | 61.1 | 27.2 | |
| Rushey Green | 19,015 | 63.8 | 27.1 | |
| Lewisham Central | 8,199 | 102 | 31.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,131 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 3,893 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 2,004 | 29% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,844 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 1,122 | 42% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 539 | 37% violent |
| Nightclubs | 269 | 36% anti-social behaviour |
| Bus and coach stations | 245 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 230 | 46% violent |
| Hospitals | 52 | 44% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Lewisham Central records 2.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Lewisham. 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 Lewisham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Lewisham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
For every 1,000 residents, about 42 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 18 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.
How crime in Lewisham has moved
“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 +11% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -14% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +16% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -2%).
28% of Lewisham residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
2% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 28% 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.
Lewisham’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.
Set against 41 towns its size, Lewisham is 19th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 16 | C+ |
| 2 | Merton London | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | 16.1 | C+ |
| 3 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 26.1 | 17.5 | 14.3 | C |
| 4 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 25.3 | 21 | 18.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Hounslow London | 286,591 | 35.2 | 21.5 | 21.8 | C− |
| 17 | Croydon London | 389,242 | 36.3 | 20.5 | 19.3 | D |
| 18 | Greenwich London | 288,117 | 38.3 | 20.8 | 22.9 | D |
| 19 | Lewisham London | 300,764 | 38.8 | 21.2 | 23.5 | D |
| 20 | Barking and Dagenham London | 218,236 | 40.5 | 20 | 17.5 | D |
| 21 | Lambeth London | 317,108 | 40.1 | 21.2 | 42.3 | D |
| 22 | Newham London | 351,065 | 38.9 | 23 | 39.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | 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 Lewisham, and others in London.
Six people died in collisions on Lewisham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 3,645 collisions with injuries inside Lewisham in five years, in which six people died (3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 590 people were killed or seriously injured: 173 on foot and 164 on a bicycle.
That is fewer than is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lewisham’s size would see about 17 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lewisham’s own rate (0.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Lewisham had 39.2 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 29% 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 Lewisham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Lewisham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewisham | 300,764 | 38.8 | 21.2 | D |
| Southwark | 307,076 | 40 | 22.1 | D |
| Greenwich | 288,117 | 38.3 | 20.8 | D |
| Lambeth | 317,108 | 40.1 | 21.2 | D |
| Tower Hamlets | 311,072 | 43.3 | 23 | D |
| Bromley | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | C |
| City of London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | D− |
| Newham | 351,065 | 38.9 | 23 | D |
Lewisham records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Greenwich, 4 miles away, records 38.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Lewisham’s 38.8.
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 52 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Lewisham’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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham
Is Lewisham safe?
Police recorded 38.8 violent and sexual offences and 21.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Lewisham’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 12% of UK towns. Among 41 UK towns of 211,000 to 406,000 people, Lewisham is 19th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Lewisham?
By council ward, Evelyn, Telegraph Hill and Lee Green record the least violent and household crime per resident: 26.3, 25.3 and 25.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 102 in Lewisham Central.
Is crime going up in Lewisham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 14%, shoplifting and theft rose 16% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Lewisham town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 269 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 18% of them violent, and Lewisham Central ward records 102 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 February.
What is the most common crime in Lewisham?
Violence & sexual offences: 11,154 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (3,143) and vehicle crime (2,604), with 6,990 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Lewisham 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 Lewisham’s 38.8 and 21.2, 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.