Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Minehead runs higher than in 90% of UK towns
Its letter for safety is D, worked out from crimes police recorded inside Minehead’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #43 of 49 in Somerset. Of all the kinds of crime, robbery is where Minehead departs most from towns its size: 1.1 per 1,000 against 0.5. Year on year, 50.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Minehead
More crime than many places its size
Of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Minehead has the 367th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Morpeth, Thorne and Shirebrook, higher than Brandon, Horbury and Brecon. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Minehead’s D
A firm grade. Built on 2,216 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Minehead against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Minehead identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 1% of Minehead’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 3% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (55% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 6% 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. 771 crimes.
Minehead is 367th of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Nailsea Somerset | 15,919 | 18.8 | 8.4 | 8.9 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 153 | Street Somerset | 12,707 | 28.3 | 7.3 | 12.4 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 237 | Midsomer Norton Somerset | 13,749 | 33.1 | 10.1 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 288 | Wells Somerset | 12,097 | 37.3 | 11.5 | 17.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 364 | Brandon County Durham | 9,508 | 43.5 | 19 | 9.6 | D |
| 365 | Horbury West Yorkshire | 9,868 | 47.3 | 15.3 | 9.2 | D |
| 366 | Brecon Powys | 8,257 | 47.9 | 14.9 | 10.2 | D |
| 367 | Minehead Somerset | 11,752 | 50.1 | 12.8 | 22.7 | D |
| 368 | Risca Gwent | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | 8.7 | D |
| 369 | Elland West Yorkshire | 15,788 | 45 | 18 | 15.8 | D |
| 370 | Chadwell St Mary Essex | 10,680 | 39.5 | 24.1 | 7.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 428 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Minehead, and others in Somerset.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Minehead runs highest on robbery (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.5), shoplifting (11.2 per 1,000 against 6.1) and burglary (4.2 per 1,000 against 2.4). Vehicle crime sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 550 | 46.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 188 | 16 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 132 | 11.2 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 102 | 8.7 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 89 | 7.6 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 73 | 6.2 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 49 | 4.2 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 22 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 13 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
| Other crime | not graded | 10 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 7 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 6 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 5 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 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.
Crime in Minehead 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 18 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Minehead’s neighbourhoods rank in England
13% 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.
Minehead’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.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +18% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -27% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -3% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Minehead police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 334 | 44% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 303 | 65% violent |
| Petrol stations | 238 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 215 | 74% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 83 | 46% anti-social behaviour |
| Police stations | 34 | 79% violent |
| College and university buildings | 30 | 80% violent |
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 Minehead. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Minehead’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 34 collisions with injuries inside Minehead in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 2 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 Minehead’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Minehead’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Minehead had 22.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Minehead’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Minehead
Minehead records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 3 neighbours; only Williton records more. Porlock, 5.2 miles away, records 24.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Minehead’s 50.1.
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 Minehead 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 Minehead
Is Minehead safe?
Police recorded 50.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Minehead’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Minehead is 367th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Minehead?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 18%, shoplifting and theft fell 27% 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 Minehead?
Violence & sexual offences: 550 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (132) and public order (102), with 188 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Minehead compare with Barry?
Barry records 40.2 violent and sexual offences and 15.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Minehead’s 50.1 and 12.8, 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.