Original research · Published 10 September 2026
London Workplace Fire Safety Report 2026
3,490fires were recorded across selected office, retail, hospitality and customer-service premises in 2021–2025.
Explore which premises groups appear most often in the selected records, how the annual pattern changed and where the raw London-authority counts were concentrated.
Headline findings
What the selected records show
These are descriptive counts. They do not measure the probability of fire or the current compliance of any premises.
- 011,033
Shops recorded the largest raw total
Shops and retail premises accounted for 30% of fires in this selected dataset.
- 02693
Restaurants and cafés ranked second
They were followed by offices and call centres, with 510 recorded fires over five years.
- 03458
Westminster had the largest authority count
This reflects a raw total across selected premises—not a rate adjusted for the number of workplaces, visitors or operating hours.
- 044,833
Audit records provide separate context
LFB’s regulatory dataset recorded this many audits across all property uses in 2025; 246 formal-action outcomes were recorded separately.
Interactive premises comparison
Change the workplace group
Select a group to update its five-year trend, response context and London-authority distribution.
All selected workplaces
Across all nine selected premises groups.
Comparison limit: no reliable denominator for workplace numbers, size, occupancy or opening hours is included.
Premises mix
Shops, restaurants and offices made up almost two thirds of the selected fires
The nine categories are deliberately kept separate so a broad “workplace” headline does not hide different premises uses.
London-wide and borough context
Compare four differently defined measures
Workplace fires cover 2021–2025. The audit, formal-action and response measures cover all relevant borough records in 2025.
| Rank | London authority | Selected fires | Premises context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Westminster | 458 | Restaurants and cafés |
| 02 | Camden | 201 | Offices and call centres |
| 03 | Tower Hamlets | 164 | Shops and retail premises |
| 04 | City of London | 155 | Offices and call centres |
| 05 | Southwark | 148 | Shops and retail premises |
| 06 | Hackney | 133 | Restaurants and cafés |
| 07 | Brent | 127 | Shops and retail premises |
| 08 | Islington | 126 | Offices and call centres |
| 09 | Croydon | 124 | Shops and retail premises |
| 10 | Newham | 123 | Shops and retail premises |
| 11 | Kensington and Chelsea | 114 | Restaurants and cafés |
| 12 | Lambeth | 110 | Shops and retail premises |
| 13 | Hillingdon | 109 | Shops and retail premises |
| 14 | Ealing | 101 | Shops and retail premises |
| 15 | Hounslow | 98 | Shops and retail premises |
| 16 | Haringey | 93 | Shops and retail premises |
| 17 | Barnet | 92 | Shops and retail premises |
| 18 | Wandsworth | 86 | Shops and retail premises |
| 19 | Enfield | 81 | Shops and retail premises |
| 20 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 81 | Shops and retail premises |
| 21 | Lewisham | 80 | Shops and retail premises |
| 22 | Greenwich | 78 | Shops and retail premises |
| 23 | Bromley | 76 | Shops and retail premises |
| 24 | Waltham Forest | 72 | Shops and retail premises |
| 25 | Harrow | 61 | Shops and retail premises |
| 26 | Havering | 61 | Shops and retail premises |
| 27 | Richmond upon Thames | 60 | Shops and retail premises |
| 28 | Redbridge | 55 | Shops and retail premises |
| 29 | Kingston upon Thames | 54 | Shops and retail premises |
| 30 | Barking and Dagenham | 47 | Shops and retail premises |
| 31 | Merton | 47 | Shops and retail premises |
| 32 | Bexley | 44 | Shops and retail premises |
| 33 | Sutton | 31 | Shops and retail premises |
Do not publish this as a safety ranking. The measures have different definitions and periods, and none controls for exposure or the number of premises.
Regulatory context
Audits and outcomes answer a different question
The incident dataset records emergency calls. LFB’s separate regulatory dataset records inspection and audit activity. Neither should be used as a proxy for the other.
audit records, with 1,123 non-compliant outcomes and 246 formal-action outcomes recorded separately.
audit records; 90 non-compliant outcomes and 12 formal-action outcomes.
audit records; 51 non-compliant outcomes and 8 formal-action outcomes.
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Methodology and limitations
How the report was assembled
We combined two existing Fire Safety Services aggregations derived from official LFB incident records. Only complete calendar years 2021–2025 were used. The source workbooks’ published property-type labels determine each group.
- Filter records to the listed property types.
- Count “Fire” and “False Alarm” records separately.
- Aggregate by calendar year, group and London authority.
- Join separately derived 2025 borough regulatory and response context without attributing it to a workplace type.
Interpretation limits
- Counts cover only the published LFB property types listed in the dataset; they are not every workplace fire in London.
- Raw totals are not adjusted for the number, size, occupancy, opening hours or footfall of premises, so they are not risk rates or a safety league table.
- Borough audit, formal-action and response figures cover all relevant published records in that borough and cannot be attributed to the selected workplace fires.
- An audit record or recorded outcome does not, by itself, establish the present compliance position of a premises.
- First-pump attendance and pump counts describe the recorded emergency response; they do not measure fire severity on their own.
Included property types
Shops and retail premises
Bank/Building Society; Department Store; Indoor Market; Kiosk; Large supermarket; Other retail; Post office (purpose built); Post office (within other shop/premises); Shopping Centre; Single shop.
Restaurants and cafés
Restaurant/cafe.
Offices and call centres
Call Centre; Central Government Office; Converted office; Estate Agent; Local Government Office; Ministry of Defence office; Other office/call centre type building; Purpose built office; Temporary office (eg portacabin).
Pubs, bars and nightlife
Casino; Club/night club; Pub/wine bar/bar.
Takeaways and fast food
Takeaway/ fast food.
Hotels and guest accommodation
Boarding House/B&B other; Hotel/motel; Youth hostel.
Event and entertainment venues
Bingo Hall; Cinema; Community centre/Hall; Other entertainment venue; Other tent/marquee; Sports/Social club; Theatre.
Customer-service workplaces
Hairdresser; Laundrette.
Retail warehouses
DIY Warehouse; Other retail warehouse.
Primary sources
Trace every measure
Short media briefing
A usable finding, with the caveat attached
Suggested headline: LFB records show 3,490 fires across selected London workplaces over five years.
Shops recorded the largest raw total, followed by restaurants and cafés, then offices. The figures cover selected published property types and are not adjusted for the number, size, occupancy, footfall or opening hours of premises.
From London data to premises action
Guidance for individual workplaces
Area-wide statistics cannot assess a particular building. Use premises-specific guidance and a competent assessment where required.