Photo: nick macneill · CC BY-SA 2.0On burglary, vehicle crime and damage, Pewsey has a lower rate per resident than seven in ten UK towns
Its letter overall is B (#10 of 30 in Wiltshire): less crime per resident than 63% of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Year on year, 20.2 violent and sexual offences and 7.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents. Recorded violence fell 28% 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 Pewsey
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 28% less violent crime per resident in Pewsey than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Pewsey has the 193rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Hadlow, Shepperton Green and Kings Worthy, higher than Melbourn, Shenley and Overton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Pewsey: B for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 311 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pewsey 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 Pewsey 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 -28% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +29% (towns its size -1%), anti-social behaviour -32% (towns its size +0%).
How Pewsey’s neighbourhoods rank in England
49% 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.
Pewsey’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Pewsey runs highest on criminal damage & arson (6.6 per 1,000 against 4.5). Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 71 | 18.7 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 26 | 6.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 25 | 6.6 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 13 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 1.8 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 6 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 5 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 4 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2 | 0.5 | 2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 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.
Towns its size: Pewsey comes 193rd of 539
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Lyneham Wiltshire | 4,645 | 10.9 | 2.5 | 3.7 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 80 | Purton Wiltshire | 3,193 | 15.6 | 4.9 | 4.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 106 | Bulford Wiltshire | 4,923 | 17.3 | 5.2 | 3.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 138 | Cricklade Wiltshire | 4,030 | 17.9 | 6.5 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 190 | Melbourn Cambridgeshire | 4,907 | 17.6 | 9.8 | 2.5 | B |
| 191 | Shenley Hertfordshire | 3,556 | 17.8 | 9.6 | 4.2 | B |
| 192 | Overton Hampshire | 4,350 | 19.1 | 8.3 | 4.6 | B |
| 193 | Pewsey Wiltshire | 3,792 | 20.2 | 7.2 | 3.1 | B |
| 194 | Mayland Essex | 3,740 | 21.4 | 6.2 | 2.4 | B |
| 195 | Bramhope West Yorkshire | 3,593 | 18.2 | 9.4 | 4.9 | B |
| 196 | Lower Stondon Bedfordshire | 3,966 | 19.5 | 8.1 | 2.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 539 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Pewsey, and others in Wiltshire.
Crime in Pewsey 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 3 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Pewsey’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 5 collisions with injuries inside Pewsey in five years. 1 person was 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, and Pewsey is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Pewsey’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Pewsey had 1.
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 Pewsey’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pewsey
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pewsey | 3,792 | 20.2 | 7.2 | B |
| Burbage | 1,322 | 15.4 | 5.8 | A− |
| Marlborough | 8,829 | 18.4 | 8 | B+ |
| Netheravon | 1,068 | 17.8 | 7.2 | B+ |
| Great Bedwyn | 1,194 | 13.1 | 10.9 | B+ |
| Tidworth | 10,693 | 24.4 | 6.5 | B− |
| Ludgershall | 5,400 | 34.8 | 11.1 | C |
| Perham Down | 1,397 | 6.7 | 2.6 | A+ |
Pewsey records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Tidworth and Ludgershall record more. Burbage, 4.5 miles away, records 15.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pewsey’s 20.2.
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 Pewsey 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 Pewsey
Is Pewsey safe?
Police recorded 20.2 violent and sexual offences and 7.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Pewsey’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 63% of UK towns. Among 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Pewsey is 193rd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Pewsey?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 28%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 29%, shoplifting and theft fell 8% and anti-social behaviour fell 32%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Pewsey?
Violence & sexual offences: 71 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (25) and public order (13), with 26 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.