More than two-thirds (67%) of rural retailers have suffered from crime in the last 12 months, new research from NFU Mutual has revealed.

Of that percentage, half were reportedly targeted more than three times during the 12 months.

According to Will Lacey, Lacey's Farm Shop in Buckinghamshire was one of many rural retailers across the UK to be impacted by theft in the last year.

Rural retailers

Lacey helps manage and run the family farm shop alongside his father and brother, who set up shop back in 2016.

Lacey said: “It’s a working family farm with my dad, uncle, brother and I. I joined the business in 2010 and the ambition was always to open a farm shop.

"It’s a different challenge to farming. When it goes well, it’s great – but as with any business there are challenges.”

In April 2024, the farm shop was broken into overnight by thieves, who smashed windows, stole the cash drawers, and damaged the CCTV, tills, and computers.

“It left us feeling extremely frustrated, and you feel vulnerable as it’s all on your land, your home and your livelihood.

"The yard is locked, the shop is locked, and security was in place – there was not much more we could do, so it’s incredibly frustrating,” Lacey added.

The 37-year-old said the shop has since upgraded its CCTV system, set up alarms, and changed the gateway entrance, to mitigate the risk of further attack.

Security measures

This work in in keeping with NFU Mutual’s research, which has shown that more than half of those working in rural retail (53%) have adopted additional security measures to protect themselves and their businesses in the last 12 months.

These include a variety of protection measures, such as CCTV, security tagging, sensors, alarms, physical security, and bodycams.

Additionally, 73% of rural retailers surveyed believed that crime has increased over the last 12 months, prompting a warning from insurer NFU Mutual for farm shops to take greater steps to deter criminals.

Head of commercial at NFU Mutual, Zoe Knight, said: “Our research shows a worrying number of rural retailers are unfortunately falling victim to crime and we would urge farm shop owners to stay vigilant to protect their stock, staff and premises.

“We have seen businesses make huge efforts to feel protected from crime, with both technological and physical security put in place – while we work closely with our risk management specialists to try and reduce the threat of other shops becoming victims.

NFU Mutual Risk Management Services Limited’s advice for retailers to protect against shoplifting:  

Use customer service as a tool to deter thieves – greeting them lets them know they have been acknowledged and may deter them as they have been identified;
Make sure store layouts are organised and tidy, placing items that are of high-value or which are more desirable to thieves in monitorable areas. Consider adding mirrors to the store to reduce blind spots; 
Limit the number of high-value items on display and secure remaining stock within a robust, lockable area;
Train staff to recognise shoplifting tactics and ensure they know how to keep themselves safe from the risk of violence;
Consider displaying signage in-store, notifying thieves that they will be prosecuted;
Try to minimise cash takings and use counter caches to deposit cash during opening hours;
Install a good quality compliant safe that is fixed in place and preferably kept in a protected area. 

NFU Mutual Risk Management Services Limited’s advice for retailers to protect against break-ins:   

Ensure all doors and windows have good quality locks which cannot be opened from the outside or from the inside without the use of a key;
Always keep keys to doors, windows, and safes in a secure location. Always remove them from your premises outside of business hours and limit their distribution amongst managers or staff; 
Consider investing in good shutters, grilles, and bars on doors and windows; 
If investing in an intruder alarm, ensure it is installed by an approved company, compliant to EN1350-1 and provides remote signalling to an alarm receiving centre; 
If investing in CCTV surveillance, ensure it provides good quality images, is recorded to cloud storage with links to mobiles and/or remote monitoring, and meets GDPR requirements;
Be aware of cyber threats and make sure you have cyber insurance in place should the worst happen;
Consider hiring data protection specialists to provide ongoing security of your data;
Have a robust policy in place for responding to intruder alarm activations - do not let a keyholder respond to an alarm on their own.