Britain’s most disorderly neighbourhoods of drunks and violence ranked by crime
There were more than 400,000 reports of public order offences in England and Wales last year, with the crimes including violent disorder, affray, threatening or drunk and disorderly behaviour
A startling map has exposed the UK’s hotspots for unruly drunks, menacing hooligans and brawls – and your local area might just be topping the list.
In a report from The Mirror, they crunched the numbers from thousands of public order offences across England and Wales to identify the most affected towns and city centres.
Last year alone, police were inundated with over 400,000 reports of such offences nationwide.
These crimes range from the downright shocking, including violent disorder, affray, threatening or drunk and disorderly conduct, to Riots also fall under this category, which won’t come as a surprise following last year’s wave of civil unrest in the UK. Protests erupted across England and Northern Ireland after the tragic murder of three children at a dance class in Southport.
Southport bore the brunt of an alarming number of public order offences last year, with 361 incidents reported at Southport Waterfront alone. However, it’s unclear whether any of these offences were directly linked to the civil unrest.
Interestingly, there were even more offences recorded at Southport Waterfront in 2023 (482). Leeds City Centre took the dubious honour of having the highest number of crimes last year, including drunken brawls and threatening behaviour, totalling a staggering 1,355 incidents.
Clocking in at four crimes daily or one public order offence every six-and-a-half hours, Leicester City Centre followed with 1,179 crime reports, and then Liverpool’s Central and Islington district racked up 1,018.
But it was the City of London that saw a whopping 829 public order offences – this is the capital’s ritzy financial hub, home to high-flying bankers and stockbrokers, not to mention the Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange.
This figure topped the charts for London, save for Westminster’s bustling Strand, St James and Mayfair area, which had 974 crime reports.
The map doesn’t just highlight the usual suspects – city and town centres known for their wild nightlife – it also pinpoints unexpected hotspots for disorderly conduct.
Take Longton West and Sandford Hill in Stoke-on-Trent, for instance, where there were 338 reported incidents of public order crimes like brawls and menacing behaviour. Despite covering Longton’s centre, one of Stoke-on-Trent’s historic “six towns”, it’s not exactly a magnet for night owls.
Yet, Longton West and Sandford Hill outdid Birmingham’s North Central and Dartmouth Circus (337), Preston Town Centre (335), and even Central Westminster (318) in terms of public order offences, among thousands of other neighbourhoods.
Public order offences typically involve threats of violence, abuse or harassment. They’re defined under the Public Order Act 1986 as acts that disrupt societal peace and order through violence or intimidation.
At the more severe end, this includes rioting – a violent act involving at least 12 people with a “common purpose”, which can lead to a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.
Violent disorder, involving a minimum of three individuals, could land you with a five-year prison sentence. Affray is another offence, where someone uses or threatens violence, potentially causing bystanders to fear for their safety, even if they’re not the direct target.
Other public order crimes include threatening, abusing or harassing others, including hate crimes motivated by racism or prejudice against someone’s religion or sexuality.
Crime stats are available for each of the over 7,000 neighbourhoods in England and Wales, except those covered by Greater Manchester Police, who haven’t provided last year’s crime data.
These figures cover neighbourhoods housing between 7,000 and 10,000 residents, known as Middle Super Output Areas (MSOAs) according to government classification. However, the stats don’t account for public order crimes reported at train stations, as these are recorded by the British Transport Police.
