Hounslow Police station ceases to offer 24/7 availability to the public

Hounslow Police Station; Photograph KTo288

London now has only two police counters open 24/7 – Charing Cross and Lewisham

The Metropolitan Police have written to residents of west London to say that from Tuesday 3 March 2026, the front counter at Hounslow Police Station will no longer be available 24/7.

From now on there will only be two police stations in the whole of London which offer a 24 hour counter service – Charing Cross Police Station and Lewisham Police Station.

The front counter at Hounslow Police Station will be open from Monday to Friday, 10.00 am – 10.00 pm, and Saturday to Sunday, 09.00 – 7.00 pm.

The nearest police counters to Chiswick are at Hammersmith and Acton police stations, which were both on the closure list last year but were both reprieved after a campaign by west London MPs. Their opening hours are the same as Hounslow’s will now be – 10.00 am-10.00 pm Monday-Friday and 9.00 am-7.00 pm on weekends.

READ ALSO: Acton and Hammersmith police station counters to remain open

Over the past eleven years London has lost 51 public access counters, mostly as part of the Mayor’s Public Access Strategy in 2016, as a result of which Chiswick, Fulham Ealing and Southall were closed. Ten of those were closed last summer. The Met now has 27 counters in London where the public can speak to officers directly.

Hammersmith Police Station

Change will save 7 million

The Police say they have made these changes because the way in which the public contacts the police has changed. Since 2012, reports made at front counters have dropped by 60%.

‘At some of the quieter locations, we’re seeing fewer than three reports a day. And overnight, only one in every 2,000 crimes is reported at a front counter’.

They say the changes help them to focus their resources on where communities need them most – ‘visible, local policing that keeps our streets safe’.

They argue that as 95% of crime reports are now made through other channels, not at front counters, these are positive changes which will free up approximately 3,000 officer hours, ‘allowing extra resources to investigate crimes, update victims and step-up our action on key priorities like knife crime, robbery and anti-social behaviour.

‘We are investing significantly in neighbourhood policing, and we are already seeing results: 1,000 more arrests are being made each month; neighbourhood crime is down, with double-digit reductions in personal robbery, theft from person, and vehicle crime; knife crime has dropped significantly this year and homicides are at their lowest since monthly records began in 2003’.

If a crime is happening right now or if someone is in immediate danger, they say call 999. Otherwise report a crime by ringing the non-emergency number 101 or visiting the Police website: Met Police.

Critics argue they are just putting a positive spin on cuts that are necessary to bridge a £260 million funding gap and that the reduction in the number of people reporting crimes over the counter is self-fulling because so many police counters have closed and those that are still open are inaccessible to many of those who might have gone to their local police station.

The changes to the opening times at Hounslow Police Station will save £7 million.