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Travel disruption, that perfect gift being out of stock, having to interact with those oddball relatives – there’s a fair few things that can dent your spirit this Christmas, but getting burgled? That’s gotta be the worst of all.
And if you’re living in some London areas, you might want to be extra careful. Real-life Grinches might be roaming the streets, and NimbleFins, an insurance company, has revealed where.
Across the city, the burglary rate jumps a whopping 21 percent between the months of November and January, increasing from 8.68 to 10.34 per 10,000 people per month. But in some areas in particular, that stats really skyrocket.
Havering sees an increase in burglaries of 43 percent, Redbridge jumps up by 54 percent, and Bexley by 55 percent. 55 percent. That really isn’t very festive.
But when you look over the course of the year, the regions are pretty different – Hackney averages at 12.53 burglaries per 10,000 people, whereas Haringey has around 13.16.
At the other end of the scale is Lambeth, which saw a four percent drop in burglaries over the Christmas period, but it seems that Newham is the least-burgled patch of London over the year, with an average of only 7.91.
Clearly the rates vary quite a lot across London, but maybe we should all give Home Alone a rewatch for some burglar-proofing inspo, just in case.
Did you see that this London borough has been named the UK’s unhappiest place to live?
Plus: This west London train station is the quietest in the capital.
Listen to Time Out’s brilliant podcast ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’: the Christmas special with Paloma Faith in the East End is out now.
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