Ranking: England and Wales’ worst areas for shoplifting – and the safest

The rise in shoplifting and abusive behaviour towards store staff has dominated the retail landscape this year.

A survey of BRC members found levels of shoplifting in 10 of the biggest cities had risen by an average of 27% in 2023, while in the 2022/23 reporting year, England and Wales witnessed a notable increase in shoplifting offences – jumping almost 25% to 342,343 cases from the prior year.

The situation has become so dire that retailers such as John Lewis, Tesco and Next have banded together and agreed to fund a new police operation to crack down on shoplifting. Project Pegasus will allow the police to run CCTV images of shoplifting offences provided by retailers through the Police National Database to identify shoplifting gangs with facial recognition technology and see where they are operating. 

To reveal the places hardest hit by shoplifting, and the areas where it’s seemingly safest to operate a store, Money.co.uk extracted crime data for England and Wales from August 2020 to July 2023.

The 25 locations with the most shoplifting

Taken from three years of data from street-level crime databases across England and Wales, the list of hotspots shows the North East as the hardest hit region by shoplifting. Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees and Newcastle upon Tyne all appear in the top 25.

Middlesborough has the highest rate in the region, with 10.91 reported crimes per 1,000 head of population annually.

Nottinghamshire also ranks highly as a shoplifting hotspot, with Nottingham, Mansfield and Bassetlaw all in the top 10. 

Top of the list is the capital’s premier shopping district, Westminster. The area that covers London’s West End and boutique shopping in Marylebone has a reported 16.64 crimes per 1,000 head of population annually.

The district has struggled with shoplifting crimes this year, culminating in London mayor Sadiq Khan urging the public to avoid Oxford Street one day in August after a supposed “mass shoplifting” event was publicised on social media. 

In sharp contrast, retailers looking to cut their shrinkage should look at opening in Devon. The region dominates the list of districts with the least shoplifting, occupying six out of 10 spots and the top three. 

West Devon comes first with just 0.60 crimes reported per 1,000 people, followed closely by East Devon with 0.74 and South Hams on Devon’s south coast with 0.77. Mid-Devon also appears in the list further down in sixth place with 1.16. Teignbridge and Torridge come eighth and ninth with 1.17 and 1.31 respectively. 

The 10 locations with the least shoplifting 

Money.co.uk business insurance expert Cameron Jaques said: “The cost-of-living crisis is affecting us all. With the cost of food and basic necessities continuing to rise, it’s not surprising that shoplifting is on the rise as well, as large segments of the population struggle to afford essential everyday items.

“With the North East of England having the highest poverty rate of all the regions, and Middlesborough, Hartlepool and Newcastle upon Tyne being in the top 25 UK shoplifting hotspots, it’s safe to think there’s a correlation there. If the cost-of-living crisis is here to stay, it’s likely that supermarkets and retailers will have to deal with shoplifting as a regular occurrence.”

• ‘Time to address crime or face a US-style retail flight from troubled towns’