For those people who are lucky enough to have not been a victim of a home invasion or burglary, they may seem like fairly minor crimes compared to others. However, burglaries are a scourge that brings misery to thousands of households every year and stops families from feeling safe in their own homes.
In a time of economic uncertainty, it may be natural to ponder which 10 postcodes have been most blighted in recent times.
The following rundown covers the May 2021-May 2022 period and is drawn from information collected at independent research site UKCrimeStats, which utilises official police data. Our list looks at the number of burglaries per postcode sector, which is the most specific category used by UKCrimeStats.
10. Postcode sector: CR0 1 - Reported burglaries: 191
CR0 1 is the first of two Croydon postcode sectors to have the dubious honour of being in the country’s top 10 most burgled. This area includes local landmarks like the Queen’s Gardens public garden and the Centrale Shopping Centre. There are also numerous residential streets that suffered almost 200 burglaries between May 2021 and May 2022.
9. Postcode sector: CR0 2 - Reported burglaries: 193
Hot on the heels of CR0 1 is CR0 2, a neighbouring part of Croydon which has seen a relatively high number of burglaries since 2021. A notable landmark of the area is Queen’s Road Cemetery, which dates back to the mid-Victorian era and is the final resting place of the victims of the mystery poisonings of the 1920s.
=7. Postcode sector: B23 7 - Reported burglaries: 195
The eighth place takes us from South London to Birmingham. The B23 7 postcode sector is home to the idyllic Brookvale Park and its scenic lake, not to mention row after row of houses which have unfortunately proven to be attractive to thieves. What’s more, this is far from the only burglary-bedevilled part of the great city of Birmingham, as the rest of this list makes clear.
=7. Postcode sector: BT7 1 - Reported burglaries: 195
This Belfast postcode sector shares the same tally of reported burglaries as the previous entry. A stone’s throw from the River Lagan, the area has attractions such as the Crescent Arts Centre and is within strolling distance of the city’s iconic Grand Opera House. Unfortunately, the South Belfast area as a whole has been grappling with what a local councillor has described as a “sustained pattern of burglaries” in 2022.
6. Postcode sector: SO15 2 - Reported burglaries: 202
The statistics now take us to Southampton, specifically the SO15 2 sector which is known for its student housing and selection of bars, restaurants, and shops. It’s also within walking distance of the city centre, and one of the city’s most photographed landmarks: the memorial to the engineers who died on the Titanic, which set sail on its doomed voyage from Southampton in 1912.
5. Postcode sector: S63 9 - Reported burglaries: 209
This sector in Barnsley in South Yorkshire is the next stop, reporting 209 burglaries between May 2021 and 2022. One man who contributed to the burglary problem in the area hit the local headlines in March 2022 after committing three break-ins in a single day. The main community covered by the postcode is the village of Goldthorpe, and a point of interest in the area is the Dearne Playhouse, which was opened by one-time resident Brian Blessed.
=2. Postcode sector: TS1 4 - Reported burglaries: 217
A glance at a map of TS1 4 reveals this part of Middlesbrough to be a sprawling grid of houses, with only the green space of Ayresome Gardens breaking up the pattern. In other words, there are rich pickings here for burglars. The town as a whole made unwelcome headlines earlier in 2022 when a Confused.com study looking at data gleaned between 2017 and 2021 dubbed it “the most dangerous” part of the UK for burglaries.
=2. Postcode sector: B29 7 - Reported burglaries: 217
The list returns to Birmingham now, for another postcode sector which reported 217 burglaries in our designated time frame. The B29 7 area is known for the large, lush Selly Park Recreation Ground, and – as can be predicted by now – a multitude of residential streets running this way and that. The neighbouring area of Selly Oak, which we’ll return to shortly, reported an average of a burglary a day in 2020, 2021, and 2022 so far.
=2. Postcode sector: LS9 6 - Reported burglaries: 217
The third part of the UK which reported 217 burglaries in our time frame is LS9 6 in Leeds. Located just to the west of the city centre, it’s not merely a local hotspot for those with the audacity to break and enter. It also encompasses what’s been locally dubbed “Leeds’ most dangerous street”. Namely, Harehills Lane, which has earnt that ominous moniker for the spate of violent and sexual offences reported in recent times. Drunk and disorderly behaviour has been another problem blighting the neighbourhood.
1. Postcode sector: B29 6 - Reported burglaries: 267
And so we return to Birmingham yet again, where the B29 6 sector saw 267 reported burglaries over the 12-month period. There are beautiful areas here, notably Selly Oak Park, though as noted earlier, there has been a serious burglary epidemic in this neck of the woods. The Birmingham Mail bluntly described Selly Oak as the “burglary hotspot of Birmingham”, and the local student population particularly bears the brunt of such crimes.
