The escalating Melbourne crime crisis has continued to take its toll on small businesses with a popular Carlton café forced to shut at night after a destructive break in.

Crime rates in Victoria have sharply risen, with a mammoth 17.1 per cent increase in criminal offenses recorded in the 12 months to March 2025, totalling 627,268 felonies.

The crime rate per capita has shockingly reached 8,998 per 100,000 population, a 13.8 per cent increase year-on-year.

Melbourne has seen the largest number of recorded criminal incidents in a year since reporting began in 2004-2005, with break-in rates in the city soaring by 19 per cent.

The crime epidemic has now forced Carlton’s hit Soap Spot Laundrette on Elgin Street, which doubles as both a laundromat and café, to close its doors at night after

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