Photo: Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0Ludlow stands out for robbery: 2.6 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has more violent crime than 70% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 84%. Violence recorded locally dropped 16% in a year. All told, Ludlow grades C for safety (#15 of 19 in Shropshire): more crime per resident than 75% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Police counts work out at 31.0 violent and sexual offences and 16.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Ludlow
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% less violent crime per resident in Ludlow 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Ludlow has the 301st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bursledon, Brynteg and Hoo St Werburgh, higher than Sarn, Sileby and Pontllanfraith. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Ludlow’s C for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,413 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ludlow 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, Ludlow runs highest on robbery (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.5), criminal damage & arson (10.6 per 1,000 against 6.2) and burglary (3.5 per 1,000 against 2.4). Drugs and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 266 | 26.5 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 128 | 12.8 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 106 | 10.6 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 84 | 8.4 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 39 | 3.9 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 39 | 3.9 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 35 | 3.5 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 24 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 16 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 16 | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 14 | 1.4 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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 crime in Ludlow 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 -16% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -2% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -2% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -16% (towns its size -4%).
How Ludlow’s neighbourhoods rank in England
53% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 11% 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.
Ludlow’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.
Of 453 towns its size, Ludlow is 301st from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 193 | Shifnal Shropshire | 8,973 | 27.9 | 9 | 9.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 212 | Whitchurch Shropshire | 9,856 | 29.1 | 9.4 | 14 | C+ |
| 213 | Bridgnorth Shropshire | 12,172 | 26.4 | 12.7 | 8.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 276 | Market Drayton Shropshire | 12,062 | 33.2 | 10.8 | 12.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 298 | Sarn Mid Glamorgan | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | 9.2 | C |
| 299 | Sileby Leicestershire | 8,954 | 32.3 | 14.1 | 7.7 | C |
| 300 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | 9,363 | 31.7 | 15.2 | 7.4 | C |
| 301 | Ludlow Shropshire | 10,037 | 31 | 16.1 | 17.7 | C |
| 302 | Stoke Gifford Gloucestershire | 13,477 | 34.3 | 12.9 | 21.1 | C |
| 303 | Cullompton Devon | 8,895 | 37.4 | 10 | 9.9 | C− |
| 304 | Brockworth Gloucestershire | 12,007 | 38.6 | 8.9 | 7.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 453 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Ludlow, and others in Shropshire.
Crime in Ludlow 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 16 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 in Ludlow identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Ludlow’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” (73% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% 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. 456 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Ludlow South, Ludlow East and Ludlow North; highest in Ludlow North
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludlow South | 2,591 | 20.3 | 10.5 | |
| Ludlow East | 3,892 | 29 | 14.8 | |
| Ludlow North | 3,554 | 40.5 | 21.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals | 195 | 75% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 112 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 92 | 45% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Ludlow North records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Ludlow. 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 Ludlow. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Ludlow’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Ludlow’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 21 collisions with injuries inside Ludlow in five years, in which one person died. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
That is about what 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 Ludlow’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ludlow’s own rate (2.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Ludlow’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 12 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Ludlow had 7.
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 Ludlow’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ludlow
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludlow | 10,037 | 31 | 16.1 | C |
| Tenbury Wells | 3,936 | 30.5 | 10.8 | C |
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | 42.4 | 8.3 | C− |
| Cleobury Mortimer | 2,963 | 19.5 | 8.1 | B |
| Leominster | 11,206 | 43.7 | 13.5 | D |
Ludlow records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 4 neighbours; only Craven Arms and Leominster record more. Tenbury Wells, 6.6 miles away, records 30.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ludlow’s 31.
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 195 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Ludlow’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 Ludlow 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 Ludlow
Is Ludlow safe?
Police recorded 31 violent and sexual offences and 16.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ludlow’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Ludlow is 301st from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Ludlow?
By council ward, Ludlow South, Ludlow East and Ludlow North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 20.3, 29 and 40.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 40.5 in Ludlow North.
Is crime going up in Ludlow?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 16%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ludlow?
Violence & sexual offences: 266 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (106) and shoplifting (84), with 128 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ludlow compare with Kidderminster?
Kidderminster records 40.2 violent and sexual offences and 18.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ludlow’s 31 and 16.1, 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.