Crime and Safety in Leicester Square, Westminster
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crime in Leicester Square is theft from the person, with 998 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 458. This is 25% lower than 2025's figure of 1,332 offences and a difference of 153.09 from 2025's crime rate of 611. Leicester Square's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 6 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 25% from 2025's figure of 8 crimes.
Leicester Square 2026 Crime Scorecard
848% higher, borough crime rate
London
1546% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Westminster is 848% higher than London and 1546% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Westminster Crime Rate Over Time
| Leicester Square | |
| Westminster | |
| London |
Leicester Square Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Leicester Square 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 Leicester Square's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Leicester Square up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Leicester Square's 77 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
Leicester Square • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Leicester Square has a crime risk score of 935. This is based on analysis of 77 nearby areas within Leicester Square, 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 Leicester Square's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Leicester Square, crime risk scores are typically around 935, while in Westminster they are average 690.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 932 (761 for Westminster), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 931 (Westminster 804).
Trends in Crime Risk
Leicester Square
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 an increase of 10% in Leicester Square'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 Leicester Square's crime risk score is up by 22%. 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, Leicester Square's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 7%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Leicester Square
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
Leicester Square • 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 458 reports per 1,000 people in Leicester Square, which is 295 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 998 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 134 reports of Robbery in Leicester Square, resulting in a crime rate of 61 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 52.
The crime rate for Drugs is 35 times the national average at 108 reports per 1,000. This is from 235 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Leicester Square
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.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 9.41 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 6.02 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 56% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 4.50 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.85 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 3.56 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 76% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Leicester Square
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 9.20 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 115 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 92% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 195 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 363 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 46% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 26 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 6.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 309% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Leicester Square • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Leicester Square | Westminster | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 231 | 106.00 | 7.50 | 13,374 | 22.23 | 1.57 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 6 | 2.76 | 8.36 | 935 | 1.56 | 2.14 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 24 | 10.99 | 5.23 | 2,618 | 4.36 | 1.39 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 33 | 15.16 | 2.64 | 2,216 | 3.68 | 0.59 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 235 | 107.83 | 35 | 2,933 | 4.90 | 1.59 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 15 | 6.90 | 5.56 | 487 | 0.79 | 0.43 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 491 | 225.31 | 40 | 15,647 | 26.00 | 4.57 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 15 | 6.90 | 11 | 357 | 0.61 | 0.72 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 126 | 57.80 | 9.97 | 3,643 | 6.06 | 1.04 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 134 | 61.48 | 52 | 2,960 | 4.93 | 4.18 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 15 | 6.90 | 1.30 | 8,025 | 13.34 | 1.87 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 998 | 457.92 | 295 | 19,993 | 33.21 | 21 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 14 | 6.43 | 2.25 | 2,950 | 4.90 | 1.14 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 476 | 218.40 | 7.18 | 12,434 | 20.68 | 0.68 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Leicester Square | Westminster | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,582 | 1184.78 | 18 | 75,198 | 125.02 | 1.74 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 3,448 | 1541.43 | 22 | 84,643 | 140.59 | 1.90 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 3,738 | 1669.06 | 23 | 88,968 | 147.25 | 1.95 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 3,459 | 1548.60 | 21 | 78,518 | 128.70 | 1.63 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,789 | 807.03 | 11 | 58,005 | 94.08 | 1.22 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 489 | 231.07 | 4.61 | 35,055 | 56.33 | 0.82 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 1,743 | 808.64 | 13 | 65,976 | 104.48 | 1.41 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,251 | 1090.26 | 16 | 68,821 | 108.65 | 1.42 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 1,504 | 732.18 | 12 | 55,337 | 86.22 | 1.21 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 1,327 | 617.89 | 11 | 49,364 | 76.37 | 1.19 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 419 | 192.52 | 11 | 15,072 | 23.30 | 1.22 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Leicester Square Compared to Other Westminster Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. James's | 2,170 | 74.77 | 94% safer |
| Covent Garden | 4,073 | 246.87 | 79% safer |
| Soho | 12,515 | 337.88 | 71% safer |
| Charing Cross | 730 | 347.68 | 71% safer |
| Chinatown | 1,427 | 378.15 | 68% safer |
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Crime in Westminster