Residents and workers of one of the busiest parts of Mansfield were "surprised" to hear their council ward is where more violent and sexual offences took place in Nottinghamshire than anywhere else outside of the city.
From January to December 2019, a total of 446 cases of violent and sexual offences took place in the Woodlands ward, in Mansfield.
Those in the ward - which includes shopping streets with high footfalls and a busy main road - said it was "worrying" to hear that these incidents were taking place in the town centre.
The figures - from the Home Office Police UK database - mean that for every 1,000 people living in the Woodlands ward, there were 167 cases of these offences - making up 23 percent of all incidents in the ward.
Robert Platts, who is 65 and a maintenance worker lives in the area. He said: "It's quite surprising to hear that and worrying to know it's coming so close the town centre.
"I used to help run a soup kitchen here so I've seen a lot of issues within the homeless community but nothing major or with the wider public.
"I wouldn't have expected to hear it's the worst in the county here for those offences."
Violent and sexual crimes include assaults, murder, rape, and sexual assaults, as well as other violent or sexual crimes.
A salon worker in the ward said she was surprised to hear the Woodlands was the worst area in the county for sexual offences, but that she had personally experienced some issues with crime.
Susan Gomez, 54, who co-owns Zig Zag hair salon on West Gate, said: "We have been here 30 years and had issues like break-ins and people coming into the shop when they shouldn't, but I think these are issues that aren't specific to this town centre.
"As a town we are hard hit with these issues and it's not just anti-social behaviour. The more shops that close their doors, that is having an impact too.
"The curfew to stop people loitering in the town centre late at night has helped but people do feel intimidated.
"I feel like I can't even just go upstairs in the shop when I'm here alone because someone might come in. We've had tip boxes stolen in the past too."
The figures are partly explained by the fact that wards in the centre of towns are more likely to have higher numbers of people spending time there who don't necessarily live there.
However, the figures do still give a good indication of where a large number of crimes are taking place.
Alex Redfern, a 25-year-old sales assistant who lives in the Woodlands ward, said: "It's surprising and it's not. We have incidents happening here all the time but it's surprising to hear how central it is.
"There's CCTV everywhere here so I can't believe people feel they can do things like that.
"I have never seen anything that violent here but you do see young people causing mischief more and more.
"I think the issues are drug-related. You see people high on stuff in the streets all the time."
James Anderson, who lives in Clipstone and comes into the ward at least three or four times a month when he comes into town was less surprised to hear how bad it was for violent and sexual offences.
The 72-year-old said: "This area has gone a little bit downhill since the pits closed and all the other companies left.
"I only come down here in the day and would never come at night because there is trouble.
"You see a lot of people who are clearly full of drugs here and there's no way they can be thinking straight. I think it makes them act out and maybe contributes to those kinds of problems here.
Other violent or sexual crime hotspots included Newgate in Mansfield which had 156 incidents for every 1,000 residents, and Carsic, Ashfield - 102 for every 1,000 residents.
People in Manor ward, Mansfield, were least likely to witness a violent or sexual offence as only six violent or sexual offences took place there last year.
The boundaries of council wards in Nottinghamshire differ from the "police neighbourhoods" Nottinghamshire Police cover.
Inspector Nick Butler, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "The Portland and Woodland Wards of Mansfield are what we often refer to as the town centre and immediate vicinity.
“The night-time economy brings more people to Mansfield than any other area in Nottinghamshire outside the city centre.
"Thousands of people visit the town centre at the weekend and we police the night time economy with a specialised team of officers each weekend to prevent offences taking place.
“We have used Operation Scorpion and Operation Guardian to reinforce the message that Mansfield is not the place for violent crime.
"We have made a significant number of arrests in the past 12 months in the town centre for a variety of offences including drugs and violence offences. The use of knife arches have been common place and the operations continue on a weekly basis."
Of the 15,986 violent and sexual crimes in Nottinghamshire last year, 96.1 percent led to no suspect being identified, or any further investigation, action, or the court case being dropped.
