Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0Hoylake records shoplifting at 5.9 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has less crime per resident than 55% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Even so, recorded violence rose 20% in a year. Overall, Hoylake grades B− for safety (#9 of 25 in Merseyside): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence and property crime split as 23.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hoylake
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 20% more violent crime per resident in Hoylake than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Hoylake has the 225th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Dickens Heath, Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe and Long Lawford, higher than Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse, Wheathampstead and Virginia Water. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: B− for Hoylake
A fairly firm grade. Built on 498 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hoylake 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, Hoylake runs highest on shoplifting (10.9 per 1,000 against 1.8), drugs (1.9 per 1,000 against 1) and public order (6.4 per 1,000 against 3.6). Anti-social behaviour and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 120 | 22.6 | 22.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 58 | 10.9 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 34 | 6.4 | 3.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 33 | 6.2 | 8.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 16 | 3 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 13 | 2.4 | 4.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 9 | 1.7 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
How crime in Hoylake 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 +20% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -38% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +65% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -41% (towns its size +0%).
How Hoylake’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% 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.
Hoylake’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 Hoylake identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 83% of Hoylake’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 18% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% 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. 193 crimes.
225th of 518: Hoylake among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Meols Merseyside | 5,023 | 12.1 | 4.1 | 3.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Lydiate Merseyside | 6,516 | 13.6 | 5.4 | 3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 110 | Rainford Merseyside | 5,573 | 18.7 | 6 | 3.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 132 | Billinge Merseyside | 4,963 | 19.5 | 7.1 | 3.6 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 222 | Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse Derbyshire | 4,447 | 22.6 | 8.8 | 4.9 | B− |
| 223 | Wheathampstead Hertfordshire | 4,523 | 20.2 | 11.3 | 5.5 | B− |
| 224 | Virginia Water Surrey | 5,185 | 19.8 | 11.7 | 10.1 | B− |
| 225 | Hoylake Merseyside | 5,311 | 23.1 | 8.4 | 10.1 | B− |
| 226 | Whittle-le-Woods Lancashire | 4,388 | 22.8 | 8.7 | 4.3 | B− |
| 227 | Cottenham Cambridgeshire | 6,156 | 19.7 | 12 | 4.9 | B− |
| 228 | Marchwood Hampshire | 5,776 | 22.9 | 8.8 | 5.6 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 Hoylake, and others in Merseyside.
Crime in Hoylake 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 6 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Two people died in collisions on Hoylake’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 23 collisions with injuries inside Hoylake in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 8 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 4 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; Hoylake’s two people are context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Hoylake’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Hoylake had 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 Hoylake’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hoylake
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoylake | 5,311 | 23.1 | 8.4 | B− |
| Meols | 5,023 | 12.1 | 4.1 | A |
| West Kirby | 13,383 | 17.1 | 7.1 | B+ |
| Caldy | 1,227 | 10.9 | 3.5 | A |
| Greasby | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | A |
| Heswall | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | A− |
| Wallasey | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | C− |
| Birkenhead | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | D |
Hoylake records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Wallasey and Birkenhead record more. Meols, 0.9 miles away, records 12.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hoylake’s 23.1.
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 Hoylake 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 Hoylake
Is Hoylake safe?
Police recorded 23.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hoylake’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 52% of UK towns. Among 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Hoylake is 225th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Hoylake?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 20%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 38%, shoplifting and theft rose 65% and anti-social behaviour fell 41%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hoylake?
Violence & sexual offences: 120 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (58) and public order (34), with 33 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hoylake compare with Liverpool?
Liverpool records 54 violent and sexual offences and 20.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hoylake’s 23.1 and 8.4, 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 · 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.