Crime and Safety in Barnsbury, Islington
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Barnsbury are violence and sexual offences, with 529 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 29. This is 3.1% higher than 2025's figure of 513 offences and a difference of 0.89 from 2025's crime rate of 28. Barnsbury's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 10 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 11% from 2025's figure of 9 crimes.
Barnsbury 2026 Crime Scorecard
6% higher, borough crime rate
London
33% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Islington is 6% higher than London and 33% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Islington Crime Rate Over Time
| Barnsbury | |
| Islington | |
| London |
Barnsbury Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Barnsbury represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
Introduction to Barnsbury's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Barnsbury up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Barnsbury's 154 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
Crime Risk Scores
Barnsbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Barnsbury has a crime risk score of 698. This is based on analysis of 154 nearby areas within Barnsbury, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Barnsbury's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Barnsbury, crime risk scores are typically around 698, while in Islington they are average 647.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 754 (719 for Islington), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 780 (Islington 774).
Trends in Crime Risk
Barnsbury
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 17% in Barnsbury's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Barnsbury's crime risk score is up by 13%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
The risk score trend over the last year has not shown any statistically meaningful movement up or down.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Barnsbury
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Barnsbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Theft From the Person offences have a crime rate of 5.54 reports per 1,000 people in Barnsbury, which is 3.57 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 100 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 64 reports of Robbery in Barnsbury, resulting in a crime rate of 3.54 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 3.00.
The crime rate for Drugs is 2.04 times the national average at 6.29 reports per 1,000. This is from 114 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Barnsbury
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 5.77 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.44 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 1211% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.82 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.60 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 37% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.27 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.34 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 274% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Barnsbury
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
No significant decreases identified.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Barnsbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Barnsbury | Islington | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 516 | 28.47 | 2.01 | 9,213 | 26.49 | 1.87 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 34 | 1.89 | 2.86 | 803 | 2.31 | 3.16 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 76 | 4.21 | 1.35 | 1,639 | 4.71 | 1.50 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 90 | 4.97 | 0.79 | 1,583 | 4.55 | 0.72 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 114 | 6.29 | 2.04 | 2,228 | 6.40 | 2.07 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 21 | 1.18 | 0.76 | 337 | 0.97 | 0.52 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 195 | 10.77 | 1.89 | 3,856 | 11.08 | 1.95 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 10 | 0.57 | 1.39 | 232 | 0.66 | 0.78 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 143 | 7.90 | 1.36 | 2,306 | 6.65 | 1.15 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 64 | 3.54 | 3.00 | 1,288 | 3.72 | 3.15 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 259 | 14.29 | 2.00 | 3,506 | 10.10 | 1.42 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 100 | 5.54 | 3.57 | 3,546 | 10.19 | 6.57 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 102 | 5.65 | 1.31 | 1,846 | 5.32 | 1.24 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 529 | 29.20 | 0.96 | 8,421 | 24.23 | 0.80 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Barnsbury | Islington | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,737 | 96.00 | 1.35 | 31,591 | 90.89 | 1.26 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 1,730 | 95.72 | 1.31 | 31,826 | 91.89 | 1.24 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 1,347 | 74.69 | 1.01 | 29,276 | 85.21 | 1.13 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 1,321 | 73.84 | 0.95 | 27,705 | 81.23 | 1.03 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,409 | 78.86 | 1.04 | 25,917 | 76.49 | 1.00 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 1,306 | 72.42 | 1.08 | 23,035 | 67.57 | 0.99 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 1,452 | 78.75 | 1.07 | 27,609 | 81.27 | 1.10 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 1,589 | 84.29 | 1.12 | 29,139 | 86.13 | 1.13 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 1,553 | 81.37 | 1.15 | 31,525 | 92.24 | 1.30 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 1,556 | 81.66 | 1.28 | 28,816 | 83.82 | 1.31 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 478 | 25.16 | 1.33 | 8,814 | 25.62 | 1.34 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Barnsbury Compared to Other Islington Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pentonville | 369 | 58.10 | 39% safer |
| Finsbury | 1,148 | 88.95 | 7% safer |
| Lower Holloway | 2,052 | 100.41 | 4.6% more dangerous |
| Islington | 4,042 | 124.36 | 30% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Islington