Shoplifting in Islington rose 39% in a year and nearly doubled from April. Violence up 9%, phone and bag theft down 22%. Ward by ward, from police.uk.
Shoplifting recorded in Islington has risen by 39% in a year, and the rise has come almost entirely since April. Police recorded 4,544 shoplifting offences in the 12 months to August 2026, against 3,261 in the 12 months before.
From April to August 2026 the borough logged 2,575 shoplifting offences. In the same five months of 2025 it logged 1,303. That is close to double.
The figures come from police.uk, the Home Office’s open crime data. We summed every offence the Metropolitan Police placed inside Islington’s 17 wards, month by month, for September 2024 to August 2026. August is the latest month published.
The 12 months to August 2026
Overall recorded crime was flat. Leaving out criminal damage, for the reason explained below, police recorded 40,165 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports, against 39,995 the year before. That is a rise of 0.4%.
Under that flat total, some categories moved a long way.
| Category | Sep 2024 to Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoplifting | 3,261 | 4,544 | up 39% |
| Possession of weapons | 166 | 245 | up 48% |
| Violence and sexual offences | 8,159 | 8,915 | up 9% |
| Public order | 2,202 | 2,348 | up 7% |
| Anti-social behaviour | 9,275 | 9,267 | no change |
| Robbery | 1,339 | 1,299 | down 3% |
| Burglary | 1,741 | 1,578 | down 9% |
| Drugs | 1,960 | 1,793 | down 9% |
| Theft from the person | 4,401 | 3,448 | down 22% |
| Vehicle crime | 2,387 | 1,820 | down 24% |
Theft from the person is the category that covers phones and bags taken from people in the street. It fell by 953 offences, the largest fall of any type.
July 2026 was the busiest month in the two years we looked at, with 3,998 crimes and reports excluding criminal damage. August 2026 had 3,667, up 12% on August 2025.
Where the shoplifting rise is
Most of the increase is in three wards: Caledonian, around King’s Cross; Clerkenwell; and Bunhill, around Old Street. Between them they account for 1,082 of the 1,283 extra offences.
| Ward | Sep 2024 to Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Bunhill | 487 | 756 |
| Caledonian | 217 | 610 |
| St Mary’s and St James’ | 458 | 556 |
| Clerkenwell | 120 | 540 |
| Junction | 450 | 533 |
| Laycock | 359 | 366 |
| Holloway | 156 | 268 |
| Finsbury Park | 483 | 263 |
Clerkenwell more than quadrupled, from 120 to 540. Caledonian nearly trebled. Finsbury Park went the other way and almost halved.
police.uk does not publish exact addresses. Each offence is moved to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so the data cannot tell you which shop was hit. We have not named any.
Where crime rose and fell by ward
Caledonian ward had the sharpest overall rise, up 23% to 2,975 crimes and reports excluding criminal damage. Arsenal rose 13% and Holloway 8%.
Tufnell Park fell the most, down 19% to 1,190. Finsbury Park fell 12% but still recorded more than any other ward, at 4,622. Junction ward, around Archway, recorded the most violence and sexual offences: 1,067 in the year.
Why we have left out criminal damage
The Met’s criminal damage and arson figures on police.uk stop making sense from May 2026. Islington recorded 112 in April 2026, then 9 in May, 6 in June, 4 in July and 9 in August. In every earlier month it was between 99 and 179.
Nothing on the police.uk changelog explains it, and we have seen the same drop in other London boroughs. Counting it would show a fake 40% fall in vandalism and pull the borough total down. So we have left the category out of both years.
There is a second caution. Violence and sexual offences jumped from 701 in April 2026 to 857 in May, the same month criminal damage fell away. The data does not show whether some offences moved between categories. The shoplifting rise is not affected by this: it began in April, a month before the gap.
What it means for you
- Recorded crime is what was reported and logged. A rise in shoplifting can mean more theft, more reporting by shops, or both. These figures cannot separate the two.
- Check your own street on police.uk, which maps each month’s offences and shows outcomes where they are known.
- To report a crime that is not an emergency, use the Met’s online reporting or call 101. Call 999 if a crime is happening now.
- Shops and businesses can report shoplifting online through the same Met service, with CCTV if they have it.
Sources
- police.uk street-level crime data, Metropolitan Police, September 2024 to August 2026, queried for each of the 17 Islington ward boundaries published by the police.uk neighbourhood API. Open Government Licence.
- police.uk changelog
Have your say