Out of all of the large towns in Essex, Chelmsford is probably the safest and easiest for the traveller to feel comfortable in. The majority of the locals will be helpful and happy to point out directions or places of interest. While violent crime is fairly low, walking the streets at night should be done with great caution, and it is ill-advised to confront gangs of youths however insulting they may be.
Central Park and West Park should be avoided at night, it is big, dark, fairly deserted and the only other people around will probably be the sort you don't want to meet like burberry wearing chavs, and also avoid any large groups. Since the pathways are fairly long and straight, these can easily be avoided by choosing an alternative route.
The Melbourne and Springfield areas of the town have got a bad reputation amongst locals, although perhaps, certainly with Springfield, it is a case of a few bad apples spoiling the crop. Melbourne should be avoided at night on foot and its pubs should be avoided all together by non-locals they get very rough with the exception of the Athletic Stadium and Park, which surprisingly is safe at night, mainly due to the various sports clubs who use it for training.
Dukes Nightclub has seen increasing levels of violence over the past five years as its popularity has grown. Drink-fueled violence is by far the main problem, however drink spiking is also an issue. Best advice is to avoid it like the plague which incidentally you might catch there.
