Crime and Safety in Bow, Tower Hamlets
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Bow are violence and sexual offences, with 806 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 27. This is 4.8% lower than 2025's figure of 847 offences and a difference of 1.38 from 2025's crime rate of 29. Bow's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 19 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 5% from 2025's figure of 20 crimes.
Bow 2026 Crime Scorecard
13% higher, borough crime rate
London
8% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Tower Hamlets is 13% higher than London and 8% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Tower Hamlets Crime Rate Over Time
| Bow | |
| Tower Hamlets | |
| London |
Bow Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Bow 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 Bow's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Bow up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Bow's 97 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
Bow • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Bow has a crime risk score of 694. This is based on analysis of 97 nearby areas within Bow, 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 Bow's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Bow, crime risk scores are typically around 694, while in Tower Hamlets they are average 651.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 766 (731 for Tower Hamlets), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 818 (Tower Hamlets 783).
Trends in Crime Risk
Bow
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 13% in Bow'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 Bow's crime risk score is up by 11%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Bow's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 1.8%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Bow
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
Bow • 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 3.83 reports per 1,000 people in Bow, which is 2.47 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 113 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 65 reports of Robbery in Bow, resulting in a crime rate of 2.21 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.87.
The crime rate for Drugs is 1.76 times the national average at 5.45 reports per 1,000. This is from 161 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Bow
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.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.42 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 217% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.00 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 133% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.48 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.95 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 24% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Bow
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.88 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.40 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 120% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Bow • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Bow | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 600 | 20.30 | 1.44 | 11,045 | 20.37 | 1.44 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 74 | 2.50 | 3.42 | 998 | 1.83 | 2.51 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 149 | 5.03 | 1.61 | 2,348 | 4.32 | 1.38 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 166 | 5.61 | 0.89 | 2,038 | 3.75 | 0.60 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 161 | 5.45 | 1.76 | 2,887 | 5.33 | 1.72 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 46 | 1.55 | 0.84 | 487 | 0.88 | 0.48 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 204 | 6.89 | 1.21 | 3,938 | 7.25 | 1.27 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 19 | 0.64 | 0.81 | 276 | 0.50 | 0.59 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 193 | 6.53 | 1.13 | 2,774 | 5.10 | 0.88 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 65 | 2.21 | 1.87 | 1,254 | 2.30 | 1.95 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 156 | 5.29 | 0.74 | 3,417 | 6.30 | 0.88 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 113 | 3.83 | 2.47 | 2,766 | 5.10 | 3.29 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 149 | 5.05 | 1.17 | 2,596 | 4.78 | 1.11 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 806 | 27.28 | 0.90 | 11,709 | 21.59 | 0.71 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Bow | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,301 | 77.86 | 1.08 | 37,488 | 69.03 | 0.96 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 2,298 | 77.82 | 1.06 | 35,452 | 65.28 | 0.88 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 2,273 | 77.18 | 1.04 | 35,635 | 66.28 | 0.88 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 2,407 | 82.31 | 1.05 | 32,620 | 60.85 | 0.77 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 2,560 | 88.23 | 1.16 | 32,196 | 60.98 | 0.79 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 2,465 | 85.13 | 1.25 | 30,170 | 57.64 | 0.84 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 2,417 | 83.48 | 1.13 | 31,037 | 59.21 | 0.80 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,384 | 82.02 | 1.08 | 33,866 | 64.76 | 0.85 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 2,582 | 88.85 | 1.26 | 31,349 | 60.39 | 0.85 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 2,322 | 80.32 | 1.26 | 30,223 | 59.43 | 0.93 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 686 | 23.79 | 1.25 | 8,887 | 17.61 | 0.92 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Bow Compared to Other Tower Hamlets Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow Common | 2,618 | 92.75 | 19% more dangerous |
| Bromley-by-Bow | 1,500 | 104.91 | 35% more dangerous |
| Mile End | 1,159 | 142.15 | 83% more dangerous |
| Victoria Park | 337 | 191.03 | 145% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Tower Hamlets