Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Craven Arms has more violent crime per resident than 87% of UK towns
Recorded violence rose 9% in a year. The local count comes to 42.4 violent and sexual offences and 8.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year. The overall Safety Grade is C− (#17 of 19 in Shropshire), which means more crime per resident than 79% of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Shoplifting stands out: 4.3 per 1,000 residents in Craven Arms, against 1.8 in a typical town its size, with 11 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Craven Arms
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Craven Arms than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 550 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Craven Arms has the 491st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Hendreforgan, Aberfan and Sherburn, higher than Fishburn, Bettws and Llanfoist. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Craven Arms, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 385 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Craven Arms 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 Craven Arms’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.
Craven Arms’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.
Towns its size: Craven Arms comes 491st of 550
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 177 | Baschurch Shropshire | 2,007 | 18.6 | 4.5 | 0.7 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 265 | Cleobury Mortimer Shropshire | 2,963 | 19.5 | 8.1 | 4.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 300 | St Martins Shropshire | 2,692 | 24 | 5.3 | 5.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 488 | Fishburn County Durham | 2,387 | 33.1 | 17.2 | 11.7 | C− |
| 489 | Bettws Mid Glamorgan | 2,237 | 44 | 6.4 | 3.9 | C− |
| 490 | Llanfoist Gwent | 2,007 | 36.2 | 14.3 | 31.9 | C− |
| 491 | Craven Arms Shropshire | 2,563 | 42.4 | 8.3 | 9.6 | C− |
| 492 | Hall Green West Yorkshire | 2,307 | 39.2 | 11.6 | 4.5 | C− |
| 493 | Broughton Lancashire | 2,468 | 31.1 | 20.4 | 9.1 | C− |
| 494 | Park Street and Frogmore Hertfordshire | 2,256 | 32.4 | 19.2 | 60 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 550 | Avonmouth Bristol | 2,643 | 82.9 | 54.6 | 60.4 | 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 Craven Arms, and others in Shropshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Craven Arms runs highest on shoplifting (4.3 per 1,000 against 1.8), other theft (7.4 per 1,000 against 3.2) and violence & sexual offences (41 per 1,000 against 22.4). Criminal damage & arson and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 105 | 41 | 22.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 19 | 7.4 | 3.2 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 16 | 6.2 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 12 | 4.7 | 3.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 11 | 4.3 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 10 | 3.9 | 4.5 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 3.1 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 4 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 3 | 1.2 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3 | 1.2 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 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 Craven Arms 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 +9% (towns its size +1%), shoplifting and theft +52% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -53% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Craven Arms 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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 71% of Craven Arms’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 144 crimes.
One person died in collisions on Craven Arms’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 10 collisions with injuries inside Craven Arms in five years, in which one person died. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 0 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; Craven Arms’s one death is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Craven Arms’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Craven Arms had 3.
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 Craven Arms’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Craven Arms
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | 42.4 | 8.3 | C− |
| Church Stretton | 3,576 | 18.1 | 7.1 | B+ |
| Ludlow | 10,037 | 31 | 16.1 | C |
| Bishop's Castle | 1,847 | 25.6 | 10.8 | C+ |
| Knighton | 2,911 | 31.4 | 13.9 | C |
Craven Arms records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Church Stretton, 6.8 miles away, records 18.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Craven Arms’s 42.4.
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 Craven Arms 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 Craven Arms
Is Craven Arms safe?
Police recorded 42.4 violent and sexual offences and 8.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Craven Arms’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 21% of UK towns. Among 550 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Craven Arms is 491st from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Craven Arms?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 13%, shoplifting and theft rose 52% and anti-social behaviour fell 53%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Craven Arms?
Violence & sexual offences: 105 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came other theft (19) and public order (12), with 16 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Craven Arms compare with Shrewsbury?
Shrewsbury records 37.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Craven Arms’s 42.4 and 8.3, 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.