Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Retford has more burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident than 84% of UK towns
Violence and property crime split as 32.9 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. The overall Safety Grade is C− (#35 of 49 in Nottinghamshire), which means more crime per resident than 78% of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Add to that, recorded violence rose 20% in a year. More crime per resident is recorded in 41% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Retford
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 20% more violent crime per resident in Retford than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 17% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 226 UK towns of 17,000 to 32,000 people, Retford has the 120th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bideford, Sudbury and Sunbury-on-Thames, higher than Nantwich, Kendal and Rawtenstall. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Retford’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 3,484 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Retford against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Retford has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 -17% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +20% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -1% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Retford runs highest on other crime (4.2 per 1,000 against 1.8), shoplifting (10.2 per 1,000 against 6.1) and possession of weapons (1 per 1,000 against 0.7). Public order and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 855 | 36 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 323 | 13.6 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 243 | 10.2 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 188 | 7.9 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 134 | 5.6 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 107 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 99 | 4.2 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 78 | 3.3 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 46 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 40 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 24 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 20 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 15 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 14 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How Retford’s neighbourhoods rank in England
24% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 14% 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.
Retford’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 Retford 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in East Retford North, East Retford South and East Retford East; highest in East Retford West
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Retford North | 6,342 | 27.4 | 12.2 | |
| East Retford South | 5,277 | 25.5 | 14.3 | |
| East Retford East | 6,932 | 31.1 | 16.1 | |
| East Retford West | 5,184 | 49.1 | 22.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 307 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 280 | 38% violent |
| Supermarkets | 188 | 70% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 30 | 53% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 22 | 55% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so East Retford West records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Retford. 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 Retford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Retford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Retford against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Forest Town Nottinghamshire | 19,015 | 23.7 | 8.5 | 9.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | Mansfield Woodhouse Nottinghamshire | 19,521 | 29.3 | 10.4 | 10.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 98 | Eastwood Nottinghamshire | 18,890 | 29.8 | 14.9 | 22.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 117 | Nantwich Cheshire | 18,741 | 39.5 | 8.8 | 14.1 | C− |
| 118 | Kendal Cumbria | 28,939 | 37.6 | 10.8 | 13 | C− |
| 119 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | 23,683 | 33.5 | 15.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 120 | Retford Nottinghamshire | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | 17.1 | C− |
| 121 | Daventry Northamptonshire | 27,783 | 35.5 | 13.8 | 9.2 | C− |
| 122 | Rugeley Staffordshire | 26,149 | 37 | 12.3 | 12.1 | C− |
| 123 | Haverhill Suffolk | 26,704 | 37.2 | 12.3 | 8.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 140 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire | 21,262 | 35.7 | 16.4 | 19 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 226 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Retford, and others in Nottinghamshire.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Retford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 4% 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. 1,148 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Retford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 124 collisions with injuries inside Retford in five years, in which four people died (3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 36 people were killed or seriously injured: 12 on foot and 7 on a bicycle.
That is more than is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Retford’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Retford’s own rate (3.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Retford had 30.5 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 33% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Retford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Retford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retford | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | C− |
| Ranby | 1,034 | 1.6 | 5.2 | A+ |
| Clarborough | 1,220 | 17.2 | 10.4 | B |
| North Leverton with Habblesthorpe | 1,079 | 18.5 | 9.3 | B |
| East Markham | 1,273 | 11 | 4.5 | A |
| Ranskill | 1,435 | 20 | 14.4 | B− |
| Blyth | 1,264 | 16.9 | 34.6 | C− |
| Walesby | 1,217 | 11.2 | 3 | A+ |
Retford records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Blyth records more. Ranby, 2.3 miles away, records 1.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Retford’s 32.9.
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 Retford 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 Retford
Is Retford safe?
Police recorded 32.9 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Retford’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 22% of UK towns. Among 226 UK towns of 17,000 to 32,000 people, Retford is 120th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Retford?
By council ward, East Retford North, East Retford South and East Retford East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 27.4, 25.5 and 31.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 49.1 in East Retford West.
Is crime going up in Retford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 20%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 17%, shoplifting and theft rose 20% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Retford?
Violence & sexual offences: 855 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (243) and criminal damage & arson (188), with 323 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Retford compare with Worksop?
Worksop records 40.2 violent and sexual offences and 20.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Retford’s 32.9 and 16.2, 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.