The scandal of London's vanishing police stations

15 years ago, the capital had 156 police stations, but that has been cut sharply to just 36. A new study argues the changes have had a worrying effect on violent crime

-  Robbie Griffiths

THE police office is now closed to the public" reads a sign on a run-down building in Walthamstow high street. For anyone who wants to speak to the police, it suggests Chingford, roughly four miles away, and adds: "Please call 999 if you have an emergency." A shopkeeper a few doors down shrugs. "It's been closed for a long time," he says. A bigger station nearby shut in 2011, following an arson attack.

They are two of more than 100 police stations that have been closed in London over the past decade and a half. So forgotten are the capital's police stations that Westminster councillors last month granted planning permission to demolish a former site in Savile Row, and replace it with a development that will include an academy for apprentice tailors.

In 2008, London had 156 open police station counters. But the Standard can reveal that the number is now 36, meaning more than 75 per cent have closed. For comparison, the city has around 180 branches of McDonald's. Many stations have been sold, while a few have become staff use only. The figure is set to go even lower, with a plan to have only one in each of the 32 boroughs. A new academic study suggests the closures have led to a significant negative effect on the most serious crimes.

The closures have doubled the average distance to the nearest police station for Londoners - from about a mile to roughly two. Around the country, more than 600 out of 900 police stations in England have shut. However, London has been hit the hardest.

Opinions differ on who is responsible.

In their mayoral campaigns, successive Tory candidates Shaun Bailey and Susan Hall both blamed Mayor Sadiq Khan, and posed outside police stations that he had supposedly closed. However, only 73 police stations were still open when Khan became Mayor-most were shut under predecessor Boris Johnson.