Cheap, City of London: Safety
Safety
Cheap is one of the quieter neighbourhoods in the City of London. Crime levels here sit well below both London and UK averages, and they've been dropping steadily over recent years.
In 2024, the neighbourhood saw 172 crimes across the year — roughly 14 a month. By 2025 that had fallen to 136, and 2026 is tracking even lower. To give you a sense of scale, the London average for a neighbourhood this size is over 130 crimes a month. Cheap is a fraction of that.
Shoplifting accounts for most recorded crime, which you'd expect in a City neighbourhood with shops and food outlets. Violent crime is low and keeps falling year on year.
The neighbourhoods around Cheap show similar or higher crime counts, so Cheap stands out as a safer area locally.
Source: police-recorded crime for Cheap ward (City of London Police, data.police.uk), Jan 2024–Aug 2026; residents from Census 2021. This summary may predate the latest data release; the table below has the current figures.
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Crime rate comparison
Crimes per 1,000 residents, Jan–Dec 2025. Cheap ward: City of London Police data via data.police.uk; residents from Census 2021. Averages are for all wards in the area over the same months. Planna's safety index uses the latest 12 months instead, so it can differ.
2024
2025
Jan–Aug 2026
Cheap ward
Crimes/1,000 residents
806.8
Higher than
UK average (England, Wales & N. Ireland)
98.8
Higher than
London region average
130.2
Neighbouring wards
Higher than
Aldersgate
89.6
Higher than
Bassishaw
685.4
Higher than
Walbrook
—
Lower than
Bread Street
6,019.2
Similar to
Farringdon Within
837
Lower than
Coleman Street
2,297.4
Lower than
Cordwainer
3,751.9
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Types of Crime
Share of police-recorded crimes in Cheap ward and the London region average, Jan–Dec 2025.
This ward
Regional average
- Shoplifting28%8%
- Theft from the person16%8%
- Other theft16%9%
- Violent offences15%24%
- Burglary6%4%
- Bicycle theft4%1%
- Drugs4%5%
- Robbery3%3%
- Criminal damage and arson3%5%
- Vehicle crime2%7%
- Public order2%5%
- Other crime1%1%
- Anti-social behaviour1%21%
