Households are less likely to be burgled in Brighton and Hove than in almost any other city in the UK.

It was named yesterday as among the top ten towns and cities least at risk from household theft.

But it still lags behind places such as Guildford, Coventry and Edinburgh.

Hot spots for burglaries and relative safety zones were named by a Endsleigh Insurance.

Nottingham came out as the most burglary-prone city, adding to its woes as a centre of gun crime.

Brighton and Hove came sixth in the list of safest cities for household theft, ahead of Bath, Swansea, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

David Herman, president of Brighton and Hove Neighbourhood Watch, said: "Obviously this is good news.

"Who wouldn't be happy about that?

"This has to be a reflection of two things - that police initiatives are obviously having an effect and that residents themselves are being more vigilant in their observations and reporting things in a prompt manner."

Insurance firm Endsleigh's report compared the frequency of theft claims in different UK towns and cities with the national average reported to the company.

The results showed Brighton homes were 34 per cent less likely to be burgled.

Divisional Inspector Dick Shelton agreed recent crime figures were worth celebrating.

He said: "Our crime figures are probably the lowest they've been for some while, which is really down to all the hard work by our officers in the Brighton division. We've made great inroads in detection and are investigating crime at the earliest opportunity.

"Reported crime is falling rapidly.

"Brighton is becoming a safer city.

"We've got a lot of initiatives in place to reduce crime throughout the city and these will continue."

People in Nottingham were 109 per cent more likely to make an insurance claim for household theft, while in Hull and Leeds the figures were 88 per cent and 65 per cent more likely.

Endsleigh spokesman Tim Larden said: "Our report underlines the risks which householders face in cities across the UK.

"For those living in the towns and cities which have ranked as the highest risk, there will be understandable concern.

"However, our data shows that these towns and cities are actually showing above average improvements in the numbers of claims being made for theft and we anticipate this positive trend to continue.

"This is in part down to a number of police and community initiatives such as neighbourhood warden schemes which have been set up to address household security issues."

Police and councillors in Nottingham have been working to dispel the city's gun-ridden image, which once led to it being dubbed Assassination City.

Last year, the city council appointed a "reputation manager."

The move is part of a scheme to counter a growing perception that Nottingham had become blighted by gun-toting criminal gangs.