Nine in 10 retailers in rural locations have been victims of crime in the past year, new research has found.
A survey by commercial insurer NFU Mutual found that 91 per cent of rural retailers had experienced crime over the past 12 months, putting them almost level with urban retailers, where 91 per cent also reported incidents.
Inner-city retailers reported the highest levels of crime, with 94 per cent saying they had been targeted.
Rural retailers, which include farm shops and businesses selling machinery and equipment, faced an average financial loss of £83,000 as a result of crime over the past year. One in 20 victims said the cost to their business exceeded £500,000.
Almost a quarter of rural retailers surveyed said they had been targeted more than six times in the past year, equivalent to an incident every other month. Just five per cent of rural retailers affected by crime said they had suffered only one incident.
Retailers are continuing to warn publicly that organised criminal gangs are fuelling a sharp rise in shoplifting and theft.
Separate research from the British Retail Consortium found there were 5.5m shoplifting incidents in 2025, costing the retail industry an estimated £400m.
The government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which passed into law at the end of April, created a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker and removed the £200 threshold for so-called low-level theft.
NFU Mutual’s research also showed the impact on retail workers. Just under half of the 150 rural retailers surveyed said staff had been verbally abused in the past year, while a quarter reported that employees had been physically assaulted.
More than three-quarters of respondents said they believed crime had increased across the UK over the past 12 months.
NFU Mutual head of commercial Zoe Knight said rural businesses were facing significant disruption from criminals.
“We know first-hand the pain and disruption criminals cause our rural communities and retailers with these callous acts,” she 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.”
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