Is E1W a safe place to live?

E1W scores 2 out of 10 for safety (high crime), compared with every postcode district in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Crime severity is about the Tower Hamlets average.

Is crime going up or down in E1W?

Up 25% over 5 years, from 1,453 recorded crimes a year to 1,818.

How does crime in E1W compare with Tower Hamlets?

Crime severity in E1W is about the Tower Hamlets average.

How many burglaries are solved in E1W?

Of 157 burglaries reported in E1W between September 2024 and August 2025, 3% led to someone being charged or summonsed and 83% were closed with no suspect identified.

E1WPostcode district

E1W crime rate and crime map

Recorded crime in E1W is about the Tower Hamlets average and 1.3 times the England and Wales average. Over 5 years it has risen 25%. The biggest share of the harm comes from violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences). Police data to August 2026.

Tower Hamlets. 15,928 residents in 11 neighbourhoods.

Safety in the UK: 2/10High crime
Safety in the world: 7/10Low crime
Living: 9.8/10Excellent
5-year change: +25%more crimes
vs the council: 1.0×the Tower Hamlets average

Open on the map

Safety and Living

Safety

What it measures. How serious the crime recorded here is, not how much of it there is. Each recorded crime is weighted by the typical sentence for that kind of offence (the Office for National Statistics Crime Severity Score), so a robbery counts about 76 times a shoplifting offence. The total per resident is ranked against every neighbourhood. 10 means among the safest tenth.

Data. Street-level crime from data.police.uk, September 2016 to August 2026. Weights: ONS Crime Severity Score, year ending March 2025.

Anti-social behaviour is not a crime and has no weight, so it is left out of the score. It is shown on its own line.
The weights come from sentences in 2015-2019 and one weight covers a whole police.uk category: violence includes both minor assaults and rape, and the data does not say which. A town with more serious cases than the national mix is under-scored.
Some forces have missing months (Greater Manchester published nothing after June 2019). We use the months that exist and say so on the page.
A neighbourhood's score is blended with the neighbourhoods around it, because police.uk records each crime at an approximate location, often the middle of a street that sits on a boundary. Three quarters is its own rate, one quarter the average of the neighbourhoods it touches, weighted by residents. Crimes recorded on a map point within 30 m of a neighbourhood boundary are shared equally between the neighbourhoods on each side, because the point usually sits on the boundary road itself. Where the map shows a neighbourhood's score, its own score is shown as well when it differs.
Busy city and town centres are not scored: few people live there and many visit, so crime per resident would mislead.
It counts crimes that were reported and recorded, not every crime. In Scotland there is no Safety score yet; Living covers it.
On the map you can filter by crime type. The filter changes the crime figures, the Safety score and the map colours, and compares with the national figure for the same types.
Crime Rates Map is a guide, not advice. Visit the area before you decide.

Read the full method

Crime severity: about the Tower Hamlets average (1.3× the England and Wales average)

Crime only, by how serious it is. Compared with every postcode district. Higher is safer.

Living

Based on schools, transport, health, supermarkets, weighted by importance. Crime is not part of it. Higher is better.

Neighbourhoods by Safety

Tested: 79% of scores were within 1 point of what happened next. How we test

1 = least safe, 10 = safest. Grey: no score. Select a neighbourhood to open it on the map.

Crime over 5 years

Up 25% in 5 years Recorded crimes in E1W, anti-social behaviour left out.

What is recorded

Crime severity: about the Tower Hamlets average (1.3× the England and Wales average). 104 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year.

Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences): 38% of the harm here
Burglary: 21% of the harm here
Robbery: 15% of the harm here

Anti-social behaviour: 50 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, not scored. Not a crime, so it is not part of the Safety score.

Shops, transport, schools and health

Distances are straight-line, not walking routes. Scores use fixed distance bands, so they do not depend on other districts. Higher is better.

Supermarkets

Excellent accessScore 9 out of 10

Typical distance to a large supermarket: 980 m.
Waitrose St Katharine Docks (Waitrose), 1.1 km from the district centre
Sainsburys Whitechapel (Sainsburys), 1.4 km from the district centre
Tesco Surrey Quays Extra (Tesco), 2.0 km from the district centre

Transport

Excellent accessScore 10 out of 10

Typical number of bus stops within 400 m: 7.
Nearest railway station: Shadwell Rail Station, 340 m from the district centre
Nearest tram or metro stop: Shadwell DLR, 380 m from the district centre

Schools

Excellent schools nearbyScore 10 out of 10

Primary schools within 2 km

Marion Richardson Primary School: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2024), 380 m away
Stewart Headlam Primary School: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2023), 510 m away
Bigland Green Primary School: Outstanding (ungraded inspection, 2024), 680 m away
Osmani Primary School: Strong standard (report card, 2026), 840 m away
Thomas Buxton Primary School: Outstanding (ungraded inspection, 2023), 860 m away

Secondary schools within 2 km

Swanlea School: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2024), 330 m away
Mulberry School for Girls: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2024), 570 m away
Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School: Exceptional (report card, 2026), 600 m away
Oaklands School: Strong standard (report card, 2026), 1.2 km away
City of London Academy (Southwark): Strong standard (report card, 2026), 1.9 km away

Health

Excellent accessScore 10 out of 10

Nearest GP surgery: THE WAPPING GROUP PRACTICE, 270 m from the district centre, CQC rating: Good, rated 2018
Nearest hospital with A&E: Royal London Hospital, 1.1 km from the district centre

Crime by type

Recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, most serious first, not counting anti-social behaviour.

Type	Per 1,000 a year
Robbery	3.1
Burglary	9.3
Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences)	26.0
Drugs	5.2
Possession of weapons (knives and other weapons)	0.6
Other crime	1.0
Other theft	17.1
Theft from the person (pickpocketing, bag snatching)	10.2
Vehicle crime (cars stolen and broken into)	9.8
Criminal damage and arson (vandalism)	5.4
Public order	6.8
Bicycle theft	6.4
Shoplifting	2.7

How often crimes lead to a charge

In E1W, 5% of crimes reported between September 2024 and August 2025 led to someone being charged or summonsed (England and Wales: 9%).

Charged or summonsed
Caution or other action
Suspect found, not prosecuted
No suspect identified
Still open

Show as a table

Type	Crimes	Charged or summonsed	Caution or other action	Suspect found, not prosecuted	No suspect identified	Still open
Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences)	483	9%	2%	51%	26%	12%
Other theft	298	1%	0%	8%	86%	5%
Theft from the person (pickpocketing, bag snatching)	212	0%	0%	4%	90%	6%
Burglary	157	3%	0%	8%	83%	6%
Shoplifting	133	3%	1%	6%	86%	4%
Public order	121	9%	1%	38%	39%	13%
Vehicle crime (cars stolen and broken into)	120	2%	0%	7%	89%	3%
Bicycle theft	104	1%	0%	1%	95%	3%
Drugs	103	17%	38%	35%	2%	9%
Criminal damage and arson (vandalism)	85	6%	2%	15%	72%	5%
Robbery	56	9%	0%	18%	68%	5%

Uses the latest outcome police have recorded so far. 7% of these crimes are still open, so the final figures may be a little higher.

Road collisions

E1W, 2023 to 2025: 55 road collisions a year with someone hurt, 9.3 of them with someone killed or seriously injured. No one was killed in those 3 years.

3.5 a year per 1,000 residents (Great Britain 1.5). 17% of them killed or seriously injured someone (Great Britain 26%).

Collisions on public roads that the police recorded where someone was hurt, counted where they happened, so busy through roads and town centres with few residents come out high. Serious and slight use the Department for Transport's adjusted severity, comparable between police forces. Source: Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.

Trend over the years

Crime severity per resident (sentence-days of the crimes recorded each year). Hatched bars are years with fewer than twelve months of data for most residents.

Last 12 months: 23.0 against a 10-year average of 20.1, 14% higher.

Questions about crime in E1W

Is E1W a safe place to live?: E1W scores 2 out of 10 for safety (high crime), compared with every postcode district in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Crime severity is about the Tower Hamlets average.
Is crime going up or down in E1W?: Up 25% over 5 years, from 1,453 recorded crimes a year to 1,818.
What is the most common crime in E1W?: The most common recorded crime is violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences), about 26 per 1,000 residents a year.
How does crime in E1W compare with Tower Hamlets?: Crime severity in E1W is about the Tower Hamlets average.
How often does crime lead to a charge in E1W?: In E1W, 5% of crimes reported between September 2024 and August 2025 led to someone being charged or summonsed (England and Wales: 9%). 62% were closed without a suspect being identified.
How many burglaries are solved in E1W?: Of 157 burglaries reported in E1W between September 2024 and August 2025, 3% led to someone being charged or summonsed and 83% were closed with no suspect identified.

Nearest town

City of London

Council: Tower Hamlets