Borough safety · Inner London · data through August 2026

How safe is Lewisham, London?

Lewisham, London covers 19 neighbourhoods in SafeRoute's Inner London index. Its median safety index is 74/100 — above the Inner London median of 60, so a typical neighbourhood here reads safer than a typical one across Inner London. Grove Park scores highest at 82/100; Rushey Green lowest at 59/100.

These figures describe reported crime around each neighbourhood's centre — they are informational, not a judgment of any community. 9 of 19 neighbourhoods here rate low risk, 10 moderate, 0 elevated and 0 high risk.

Every neighbourhood in Lewisham, safest first

Neighbourhood	Index	Band	Incidents
1 Grove Park	82/100	Low risk	143
2 Crofton Park	81/100	Low risk	166
3 Forest Hill	79/100	Low risk	170
4 Downham	78/100	Low risk	210
5 Hither Green	78/100	Low risk	179
6 Perry Vale	77/100	Low risk	209
7 Bellingham	76/100	Low risk	215
8 Lee Green	76/100	Low risk	252
9 Catford South	75/100	Low risk	248
10 Telegraph Hill	74/100	Moderate	239
11 Brockley	70/100	Moderate	289
12 Sydenham	69/100	Moderate	294
13 Blackheath	67/100	Moderate	373
14 Evelyn	67/100	Moderate	326
15 Ladywell	65/100	Moderate	378
16 New Cross Gate	64/100	Moderate	362
17 Deptford	60/100	Moderate	442
18 Lewisham Central	59/100	Moderate	468
19 Rushey Green	59/100	Moderate	453

How Lewisham compares across Inner London

Boroughs (safest first)	Median index	Neighbourhoods
Greenwich	80/100	23
Wandsworth	75/100	22
Lewisham (this page)	74/100	19
Hammersmith and Fulham	62/100	21
Kensington and Chelsea	60/100	18
Hackney	59/100	21
Lambeth	58/100	25
Southwark	57/100	23
Camden	57/100	20
Tower Hamlets	54/100	20
Islington	50/100	17
Westminster	48/100	18

Common questions

What is the safest neighbourhood in Lewisham, London?

Grove Park has the highest SafeRoute safety index in Lewisham, London, at 82/100 (low risk), from 143 reported incidents within 1 km of its centre. Crofton Park (81/100) and Forest Hill (79/100) follow.

Which neighbourhood in Lewisham, London has the most reported crime?

Rushey Green has the lowest index in Lewisham, London, at 59/100, with 453 reported incidents within 1 km of its centre. A low score means more is reported around that centre, which busy commercial and transport areas produce simply by having more people in them — it is not a measure of how dangerous a resident's street is.

Is Lewisham, London safe?

Across its 19 neighbourhoods the median SafeRoute safety index is 74/100, against 60 across Inner London. 9 rate low risk, 10 moderate, 0 elevated and 0 high risk. These describe reported crime only and vary widely within the borough — check the individual neighbourhood rather than reading one number for the whole of it.

How is the SafeRoute safety index calculated?

SafeRoute weights each police-recorded incident by severity (violence weighs more than shoplifting), sums the last available period within 1 km of the neighbourhood centre, and normalises against national crime rates onto a 0–100 scale — higher is safer. It describes reported crime only; it is not a guarantee of safety. The figure shown for Lewisham, London is the median of its 19 neighbourhoods — the borough is not measured separately.

Methodology

Each incident published by the police (via data.police.uk, Open Government Licence) is weighted by severity — violence counts for more than shoplifting. For every ward we sum weighted incidents within 1 km of its centre (ONS December 2025 ward centroids), and normalise onto a 0–100 index, higher = safer. Incident locations are anonymised by the police to nearby snap points, so the maps show streets rather than exact addresses. Pages regenerate as new data is published.

The index compares neighbourhoods within Inner London. It is not comparable between cities: each police force publishes a different set of offences over a different period — London's figures cannot be read against another city's on the same 0–100 scale.