Business Insurance in Exeter: Getting Cover Right in a City of Two Halves

Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director, Apex Insurance Brokers Limited · Last reviewed 2026-08-08

Exeter is not one city from an insurer's point of view — it is at least two. There is the cathedral city: a historic core of old, sometimes listed, often awkward buildings. And there is the centre that was rebuilt after wartime bombing: mid-twentieth-century construction with its own quirks. Layer a large university economy over the top and you have a set of insurance questions that a generic "UK small business" policy, bought online in ten minutes, tends to answer badly. Apex Insurance Brokers is a Bristol-based broker, authorised and regulated by the FCA, arranging cover for businesses across the UK — including plenty in Devon. We don't have an office in Exeter, and we won't pretend to. What we do have is experience of exactly the problems Exeter's building stock and economy create.

Does it matter which Exeter your premises sit in?

Genuinely, yes. If you trade from one of the older buildings in the historic core near the cathedral, your first question should be about reinstatement cost. Listed and older buildings cannot simply be rebuilt in blockwork and render after a fire — conservation requirements can force like-for-like materials and specialist trades, and that can push the true rebuild cost far above what the building would sell for. Sums insured based on market value, or carried over unchanged from year to year, are how underinsurance happens; and underinsurance means the insurer can reduce every claim proportionately, not just the big one. Older buildings also raise survey questions insurers actually ask: wiring age, heating type, flat-roof sections, shared walls with neighbouring premises. Answer those carelessly and you risk a dispute at claim time under your duty of fair presentation.

If instead you occupy part of the post-war rebuilt centre, the issues are different but real. Mid-century commercial buildings can carry flat roofs (a standard insurer question, sometimes with conditions attached), dated electrics, and in some cases materials from that era that complicate repairs. Rebuild costs for these units are usually easier to estimate than for a listed frontage — but "easier" is not "automatic," and tenants should check carefully what the lease makes them responsible for insuring versus what sits with the landlord.

What does a university economy do to your business interruption cover?

A large slice of Exeter's trade moves with the academic calendar. Cafes, bars, letting agents, cleaners, taxi firms, printers, food outlets and dozens of other businesses see revenue swing between term time and the long vacation. That matters for business interruption insurance in two specific ways. First, your declared gross profit needs to reflect a full trading year, not a quiet month annualised. Second — and this is the one that catches people out — your indemnity period needs to be long enough to carry you through to the next strong trading period. If a fire closes you in June and your fit-out, permissions and reopening take nine months, a 12-month indemnity period may only just get you back for one term's trade before cover stops. For businesses whose income is concentrated in term time, 18 or 24 months is often the honest answer.

The university economy also generates contracts. Suppliers and service providers working with large institutions are routinely asked to evidence public liability at a specified limit — often £5m or £10m — before they're allowed on site or on the approved list. Worth knowing before you bid, not after.

Which covers are actually required by law?

One, mainly. If you employ anyone — including part-time student staff, casual weekend cover, or labour-only subcontractors — employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, generally at a minimum of £5m. Exeter's student workforce makes this a live issue: plenty of small businesses here staff up with part-timers and assume "casual" means "doesn't count." It usually does count.

Public liability, by contrast, is not required by statute. It is required by reality: landlords' leases, institutional contracts, market pitches and event organisers will all demand it, and trading customer-facing premises without it is a bet most owners shouldn't take. Professionals — accountants, architects, consultants — will additionally need professional indemnity, usually as a condition of their regulator or their clients.

A riverside city: ask the flood question before the insurer does

Exeter grew up on the River Exe — the city is named for it — and any business trading in lower-lying areas near the water should treat flood as a first-order insurance question, not a footnote. That means checking three things in the actual wording: whether flood is covered at all, what excess applies specifically to flood (it can be dramatically higher than the standard excess), and whether your business interruption cover responds to flood damage and to denial of access if the surrounding area is affected. Commercial premises don't benefit from the Flood Re scheme that supports household policies, so a broker shopping the market matters more here, not less. If you're on higher ground away from the river, say so clearly in your presentation to insurers — postcode-level ratings sometimes tar dry premises with a wet brush, and that's an argument a broker can have on your behalf.

How Apex arranges cover for Exeter businesses

We work as an independent broker from Bristol, arranging commercial insurance for clients across the UK. For an Exeter business that means a proper fact-find — building age and construction, listed status, lease obligations, staffing including part-timers, seasonality of income, contract requirements — then presenting your risk to a panel of insurers accurately, so the policy holds up when you need it. You can read more about the commercial covers we arrange on our commercial insurance page. Most of what's written there applies just as squarely an hour down the M5.

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This article is general information, not advice on a specific policy.