New research by the policy consultancy Public First highlights the scale of the shoplifting crisis facing retailers across the country – and the hotspots where the problem has become most acute. 

Official data shows that the number of police-recorded shoplifting offences has increased by about a third over the last year, to reach the highest level since current police recording practices began in 2003.

The losses to affected businesses from this crimewave are substantial, with the British Retail Consortium estimating annual costs from shoplifting of close to £2 billion. 

These costs, and the pervasiveness of shoplifting, are not spread evenly across the country. Building on neighbourhood-level data on recorded crimes, Public First has mapped the scale and growth in shoplifting across major towns and ctities in England. 

Our analysis shows that Hartlepool is the shoplifting capital of England, with 224 recorded offences per 10,000 residents over the 12 months to September 2024.  This is followed  by Lincoln (201), Mansfield (183) and Crawley (182).

Meanwhile, the city of Bath has seen the strongest growth in shoplifting over the past year, among the 99 towns and cities we have looked at, with recorded offences rising by 83% over the 12 months to September 2024, compared with the previous 12 months.This has left the city in 8th place in terms of per capita shoplifting rates. Bedford and Gloucester have also seen substantial growth in shoplifting offences over the past year (71% and 47% respectively). Click here for a map of shoplifting levels nationallly.

While London as a whole has a low per capita rate of shoplifting, this masks the concentration of crime in the capital in the West End. Westminster sees 203 recorded shoplifting offences per 10,000 residents. This is followed by Kensington & Chelsea (142) and Camden (134). In terms of growth in shoplifting over the past year in the capital, this has been highest in the City of London (up 145%) followed by Hackney (up 92%) and Harrow (up 64%). Click here for a map of shoplifting levels in London.

Note that there are parts of the country where the scale of the problem is masked by known data issues in official statistics. Greater Manchester Police has not published comparable statistics since 2019 following a change in IT systems, while data for Devon and Cornwall has known reliability issues.

This analysis also featured in the Telegraph here.