Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Portishead sees less crime than 71% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
On burglary, vehicle crime and damage it beats 61% of UK towns; on violent crime, only 37%. Portishead’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#15 of 49 in Somerset): 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 27.9 violent and sexual offences and 8.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Recorded violence held steady in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Portishead
Less crime than many places its size
Of 247 UK towns of 18,000 to 36,000 people, Portishead has the 56th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Ely, Stanford-le-Hope and Chapeltown and High Green, higher than Maghull, Tadworth and Epsom Downs and Felixstowe. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 29% of Portishead’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Portishead’s C+ for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,856 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Portishead 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 Portishead identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 1% of Portishead’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 2% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (49% 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. 898 crimes.
1 in 3 Portishead residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
58% 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.
Portishead’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: Portishead comes 56th of 247
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Clevedon Somerset | 21,084 | 24.2 | 8.5 | 8.8 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Maghull Merseyside | 20,367 | 28.1 | 7.9 | 5.1 | C+ |
| 54 | Tadworth and Epsom Downs Surrey | 27,095 | 22.9 | 13.1 | 5.7 | C+ |
| 55 | Felixstowe Suffolk | 24,218 | 28.1 | 7.9 | 10.3 | C+ |
| 56 | Portishead Somerset | 26,351 | 27.9 | 8.3 | 11.3 | C+ |
| 57 | Metropolitan Lisburn Belfast | 32,643 | 24.8 | 11.3 | 4.9 | C+ |
| 58 | Penarth South Glamorgan | 28,391 | 23.7 | 12.9 | 10.7 | C+ |
| 59 | Ware Hertfordshire | 19,631 | 25.2 | 11.4 | 9.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 152 | Keynsham Somerset | 19,257 | 39.1 | 13.4 | 9.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 154 | Frome Somerset | 27,904 | 39.8 | 12.8 | 19.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 247 | 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 Portishead, and others in Somerset.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Portishead runs highest on shoplifting (8.5 per 1,000 against 6.1) and other theft (5 per 1,000 against 4.4). Other crime and drugs sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 743 | 28.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 291 | 11 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 223 | 8.5 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 148 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 133 | 5 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 112 | 4.3 | 6.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 49 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 46 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 30 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 29 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 15 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 11 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 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 Portishead 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 +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -11% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +26% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Portishead 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 8 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Portishead South, Portishead North and Portishead East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portishead South | 4,147 | 17.8 | 7.3 | |
| Portishead North | 4,798 | 24.7 | 12.8 | |
| Portishead East | 8,247 | 30 | 8 | |
| Portishead West | 9,159 | 32.2 | 6.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Police stations | 549 | 59% violent |
| Supermarkets | 505 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 289 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 196 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 23 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Portishead. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Portishead’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Portishead’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 46 collisions with injuries inside Portishead in five years. 16 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 3 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 Portishead’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Portishead’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Portishead had 11.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below 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 Portishead’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Portishead
Portishead records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Avonmouth and Pill record more. Nailsea, 3.7 miles away, records 18.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Portishead’s 27.9.
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 Portishead 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 Portishead
Is Portishead safe?
Police recorded 27.9 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 Portishead’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 43% of UK towns. Among 247 UK towns of 18,000 to 36,000 people, Portishead is 56th from the least crime. 29% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Portishead?
By council ward, Portishead South, Portishead North and Portishead East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 17.8, 24.7 and 30 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 32.2 in Portishead West.
Is crime going up in Portishead?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft rose 26% 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 Portishead?
Violence & sexual offences: 743 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (223) and public order (148), with 291 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Portishead compare with Bristol?
Bristol records 55.3 violent and sexual offences and 25.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Portishead’s 27.9 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.