Is Kingston safe?

At first glance, the borough of Kingston Upon Thames is definitely considered one of the safer areas in London and because of this it has a thriving property market, successful businesses, and an abundance of international students attending its university.

Kingston is a breath of fresh air for a Londoner from places like Hackney, Lambeth, Croydon and Camden.

However, for those that live in more rural parts of England, like Cornwall which has a crime rate of just under 60 crimes per 1000 people, or even places just outside of London like Hertfordshire where crime is scarce and people live in small towns, two murders so close to the university in the space of a year is much more of an issue.

Mohammad Abdullah is a third-year student at Kingston University who has lived in the south London borough of Lambeth, his whole life said: “In comparison to where I grew up, Kingston feels like the safest place on earth I genuinely have no worries walking down the street.”

Speaking of some of the tragedies in the area in the last few years, he said: “Nowhere is perfect, we are all so aware of it because it happens so rarely, that when it does, it’s automatically front page news.”

Crime rate

It is no secret that when moving into an area crime rate is always an essential element in a decision, hence the evident correlation between crime rate and property value.

Likewise, for students when choosing the university they hope to live in or commute back and forth from, it is important that the area is safe.

According to the website Crimerate, Kingston Upon Thames had the second lowest number of crimes committed amongst London boroughs in 2021 with just under 11,000 crimes.

In comparison, Westminster experienced slightly over 49,000 crimes this past year.

Westminster has a much higher population in all fairness, however, even if we were to compare Kingston with an area with a similar population like Kensington and Chelsea and look at the crimes to population ratio, there is still an evident difference, with Kensington and Chelsea being in the Top 5 for the worst crime rate in London despite its size.

Kingston has historically been one of the safest areas in London and despite recent tragedies, the common opinion is that it remains as such.

So is Kingston safe? Both the statistics and public opinions point to the answer being yes.