More than nine in 10 rural retailers in England have fallen victim to shoplifting in the past 12 months, according to new research. Farm shops and stores selling machinery have all experienced the crime, which cost each business an average of £83,000 annually, a survey by NFU Mutual reveals.
Financial Impact on Businesses
The cost of crime was far higher for some businesses, with one in 20 of the 150 rural retailers surveyed revealing that thefts had cost them more than £500,000. Farmer John Harris was the victim of a break-in when thieves smashed into his Broadditch farm shop, near Gravesend in Kent, last Easter. After breaking in, the thieves took the shop’s safe and fled with the £5,000 it contained as well as two donation boxes.
‘We normally don’t leave money in the shop, but because of the way the weekend fell, there was more in the safe than normal,’ Harris said. ‘It felt personal, like a gut punch. It was a weird, horrible feeling.’ A man has been charged with the crime but has not appeared in court yet.
Frequency and Additional Crimes
The survey also found that almost a quarter of rural retailers were targeted by criminals more than six times, while only 5% experienced one incident over the period. On top of thefts, just under half (46%) of rural retailers said staff had been verbally abused, while a quarter had had staff physically assaulted. More than three-quarters (77%) said they believed crime had increased in the UK over the last 12 months.
Expert Comments
Zoe Knight, NFU Mutual’s head of commercial, said: ‘Farm shops are often family-run operations and embedded into the local communities. They have sadly been targeted in the past and continue to be so, due to their remote locations, so it is vital that owners take all necessary and appropriate preventative steps to try to deter thieves.’
National Trends and Government Response
Shoplifting incidents in England and Wales rose 20% between 2023 and 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). They soared another 5% last year, as police recorded 519,381 shoplifting offences in the 12 months leading up to September 2025, according to the ONS. Meanwhile, a separate study by the British Retail Consortium revealed that while inner city retailers were the most likely to fall victim to shoplifting (94%), rural retailers were close behind (91%).
In an effort to tackle the issue, the government passed the Crime and Policing Bill into law in April. This created a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker and removed the £200 threshold for ‘low-level’ theft, which has a maximum six-month custodial sentence.
