Carlisle street is most crime-hit in Cumbria

An investigation by The Cumberland News today reveals the 30 streets in the county where the most offences were committed last year.

And while the traditional heart of Carlisle’s nightlife scene heads the chart, with more than offences in a year, two other city centre streets – English Street and Scotch Street – also appear in the top five.

But other more residential areas of Carlisle, such as Wigton Road, Newtown Road, Warwick Road, Blackwell Road and Brookside, Raffles, were also among the areas most hit by crime, the figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.

Botchergate is heavily populated by bars and takeaways, with revellers packing the route, particularly on weekends. Figures show there were 319 registered crimes on the street in the year ending in October with violence against the person, theft and drug offences the most common acts reported.

Criminal damage and public order offences were also common.

Ulac Aylanc, the manager of the Crusty Cobbler takeaway on Botchergate, said: “I’m not surprised. At the weekend there’s problems, there’s fighting.

“On Botchergate people come from all over.

“Lots of drink is the problem at the weekend, but it’s just on the street, not inside here. But there’s always lots of police here, they do a very good job.”

Superintendent Matt Kennerley, from Cumbria Police’s uniformed operations section, said officers work hard to identify crime hotspots and dedicate resources accordingly.

Supt Matt Kennerley “A lot of the locations are on the main arterial routes through the county. They will see a lot more footfall,” Mr Kennerley said.

“A lot of them will have a heavy population around businesses and local shops.

“We get a lot of incidents of theft in those types of premises and those areas also tend to be where the nighttime economy is.

“Also the areas people will congregate in after going out, such as food places and taxi ranks, is where we would expect, given the volume of crime linked to alcohol.”

Dalton Road, Cavendish Street, Walney Road and Duke Street, all in Barrow, and Stricklandgate, Kendal made up the top 10. Duke Street, Whitehaven, was the highest-placed west Cumbrian location, at 13th.

Top 30 crime hotspots in Cumbria
1 Botchergate, Carlisle 319
2 English Street, Carlisle 272
3 Dalton Road, Barrow 173
4 Cavendish Street, Barrow 145
5 Scotch Street, Carlisle 122
6 Wigton Road, Carlisle 121
7= Newtown Road, Carlisle 103
7= Walney Road, Barrow 103
9= Duke Street, Barrow 98
9= Stricklandgate, Barrow 98
11 Warwick Road, Carlisle 97
12 Lowther Street, Carlisle 96
13 Duke Street, Whitehaven 91
14= Blackwell Road, Carlisle 89
14= Murray Road, Workington 89
16 Pow Street, Workington 85
17= Dalton Lane, Barrow 83
17= Highgate, Kendal 83
19= Tangier Street, Whitehaven 81
19= Curzon Street, Maryport 81
21= Portland Walk, Barrow 77
21= Abbey Road, Barrow 77
21= Risman Place, Workington 77
24= Burton Road, Kendal 74
24= Lowther Street, Whitehaven 74
26= Washington Street, Workington 73
26= Moss Bay Road, Workington 73
28= Rawlinson Street, Barrow 70
28= North Lane, Millom 70
28= Brookside, Carlisle 70