Knife crime has soared by 86% in London in a decade, a report has revealed.
The number of offence surged by 58 per cent in just the three years between 2021 and 2024.
Just 20 streets around Oxford Circus and Regent Street accounted for one in every 15 knife attacks across the capital, Policy Exchange said.
New Bond Street, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Picadilly Circus were all highlighted.
It also claimed that offenders were being let off the hook, with more than 4,500 prolific offenders walking free from court last year.
Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector David Spencer said: “London is in the grip of a knife crime, robbery and theft epidemic.”
The think tank revealed one in 20 muggings of items such as watches or phones in the capital were solved last year.
Terry McMillan, 58, from Chislehurst, Bromley, was pronounced dead at the scene in Long Lane, Southwark, and Brendan McMillan, 27, in hospital.
Terry left school with no qualifications and rose to become director of the Trademark Property Group.
Brendan was a talented prop for Blackheath Rugby Football Club who had represented Jamaica.
Mr Spencer said the Met must take an unequivocal “crime fighting first” approach.
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Data from the Office for National Statistics published this week shows London accounted for nearly a third of all knife crime nationwide.
Although knife crime nationwide fell by 1 per cent last year, it rose by 9 per cent in London, with 16,297 offences.
The Policy Exchange report concluded that a significant increase in the use of stop-and-search and zero tolerance was needed.
Analysis of searches statistics undermined suggestions the tactic is racist, it said.
Although a higher proportion of those stopped were black relative to the overall population, the report found the proportion of black people charged with murder, knife crime and robbery was even higher.
Its analysis found that over the past two years, 39.5 per cent of people stopped and searched by police in London were black. Around 13.5 per cent of the city’s population is black.
Of the total number of people charged with murder and robbery, 43.6 per cent and 48.6 per cent were black respectively.
Some 45.6 per cent of non-domestic knife crime murder victims were black.
Mr Spencer said that rather than being discriminatory, stop-and-search usage reflected the demographic breakdown of offending in the capital.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Implementation of a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to crime requires a combination of clear policy, political will and savvy operational policing.
“It also requires policing and political leaders to put public safety ahead of ideological dogma on issues such as stop-and-search.”
Commander Hayley Sewart, the Met’s lead for knife crime, said: “Tackling violent crime is our top priority.
“We are putting more officers in neighbourhoods than ever before, using our stop and search powers to taking thousands of weapons off the street – 17,500 over the past four years - and utilising new technology and data-driven tactics including focussing on the highest harm hotspots to bring offenders to justice and drive down violent crime.
“We are also arresting more than 1,000 more criminals each month thanks to the hard work of our officers.
“Our approach is having success - this financial year, knife-related crime is down by 16 per cent, there has 12.8 per cent reduction in robbery offences and homicide is at a five year low.
“This report, repeats the calls that we have previously made for reform of the justice system and the collaboration of partners like major mobile phone producers. We all know that reducing knife crime requires a whole of society effort and we will support any initiative that seeks to make this happen.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Nothing is more important to the Mayor than keeping Londoners safe and he is determined to continue leading from the front to build a safer London for all.
“Thanks to the hard work of the Met Police and partners, homicides, gun crime with lethal barrel discharges, knife crime with injury and burglary are all down since 2016 and last year teen murders were the lowest they’ve been in over a decade.
“The latest ONS stats also show that overall, the violent crime with injury rate is lower in London than in the rest of England and Wales.
“Record funding from the Mayor and an enhanced approach to neighbourhood policing in the West End has led to personal robberies falling by 20 per cent and violence with injury reducing by 25 per cent in the last year.
“The Mayor is determined to build on this progress – his record £1.16bn funding has secured 935 police officers and he has worked closely with the Commissioner to increase the number of police officers on the beat in the West End, plus additional police officers working in new or enhanced town centre teams in hotspot areas.
“Despite years of austerity by the previous government, this is the latest example of the Met Police and Mayor prioritising what Londoners want and delivering on their pledge to put high visibility policing at the heart of fighting crime and rebuilding community confidence and trust.”
