Here are the most dangerous places to live in Lancaster

Summer term has officially come to an end, and most of us have moved out of our student halls, flats and houses, only to return to Lancs in the coming months.

But when you’re moving into your new place in September you’ll probably have the familiar feeling of wondering whether the area is as safe as you’d like it to be – everyone has heard student horror stories about crime in the area. And that’s natural, you get that at every university. You’ve probably got nothing to worry about, as you tell your parents when they’re unpacking your things from the family Volvo.

Lancaster is a lovely city; it’s historic, it’s rather picturesque, and to be honest it’s miles better than a lot of student cities around the UK. But, as with most things in life, everything isn’t as it seems upon closer inspection. So, using data from police.uk, we’ve been able to identify the most dangerous areas in Lancs during the time when most of us were in Lancaster this past academic year – September until February.

Most dangerous area – City Centre

With an average of 170 reported crimes per month between September and February, the city centre is statistically the most dangerous area to live in. If someone can tell that to all the student housing companies then they might lower their prices? I’m not paying top dollar to live in a crime riddled city; this isn’t Gotham. In the past 12 months, anti-social behaviour made up one-third of reported crime in the city, and violent/sexual offences made up 21.8 per cent of reported crime.

Least dangerous – Bowerham

Coming as a shock to many, the least dangerous area to live in is Bowerham! Whenever anyone lives in a student house in this area, it often comes with one or two raised eyebrows, and a few concerns that the area isn’t particularly… peaceful. But, according to the stats, Bowerham is actually the least dangerous area in Lancaster, with an average of 28 offences per month – there were fewer than 180 reported crimes in Bowerham during term-time this year. That being said, anti-social behaviour accounted for 36 per cent of crimes, and one-in-four crimes were violent/sexual offences.

The other student areas in Lancaster – notably around the train station and the castle; alongside areas around Caton Court and Lidl sit comfortably in the middle of the table.

Dalton Square v. Sugarhouse Alley

Between September and February, there were 80 crimes reported around Dalton Square, whereas under half as many as that were reported around Sugarhouse Alley – 32 crimes were reported over the same six-month period.

However, violent/sexual offences made up just under half (46.8 per cent) of all recorded crime around Sugarhouse Alley, whereas the same category was reported as making up 30 per cent of crimes around Dalton Square. Both areas reported incidents involving drugs, anti-social behaviour, and public order.

December was the most dangerous month around Dalton Square, which records nearly 30 incidents; almost half of those were violent/sexual offences.

Sugarhouse Alley was most dangerous in February, reporting 11 incidents – seven of which were violent/sexual offences.

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