Business Insurance for Frome’s Makers, Shops and Trades

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

Why the building comes first in Frome

Frome grew rich on wool, and the town it built is still the town businesses trade from: centuries-old stone buildings climbing a steep hillside, a large share of them listed, a large share of those now shops, studios, cafés and offices. That is the single biggest thing a broker should get right here, because a listed stone building is not insured like a modern unit on a trading estate.

Reinstatement cost — what it would take to rebuild or repair to the standard the listing demands — usually has little to do with market value. Conservation-compliant work means matching stone, lime mortar rather than cement, traditional roofing details, and specialist trades who are booked up and priced accordingly. If your sum insured reflects a generic rebuild rate per square metre, you are probably underinsured, and underinsurance can see a claim payment scaled down proportionately. It also takes longer: consents, specialist contractors and slow, careful work mean a 12-month business interruption indemnity period is often too short for a listed premises. Twenty-four months is a more honest starting point, and tenants in listed buildings should check the lease carefully for who insures what — shopfront, structure, internal fit-out — before assuming the landlord has it covered.

Cover built for makers, not multiples

What sets Frome apart from most Somerset towns is how much of its business base actually makes things — independent producers, craftspeople and studios rather than branches of national chains. That distinction matters in insurance terms, because a maker carries exposures a pure retailer does not.

If you make what you sell, product liability stops being a box-tick and becomes central: a fault in something you designed, fired, printed, built or baked traces straight back to you, whether it was sold over your own counter, at a market stall or through an online shop. Check the territorial limits if you post work overseas — some policies restrict where goods can end up.

Then there is the kit. A kiln, a press, a lathe, a workshop full of hand tools — for a small maker this is not general contents, it is the entire means of earning. It deserves accurate replacement values, and you should know how the policy responds when equipment is away from the workshop: stock in transit to fairs and markets, tools left in a van overnight (often excluded or heavily conditioned), and public liability for a stall, which most market and event organisers will require you to evidence before you trade. For a one-person business, business interruption is really income protection by another name — if the workshop is out of action, so are you.

Steep streets, shared walls, old plumbing

The artisan quarter’s charm is also its claims profile. Old, tightly packed stone buildings share party walls, so fire and escape of water rarely stay politely within one premises — which is why liability to neighbouring property, and adequate limits for it, matter more here than in a detached unit. Ageing pipework in historic buildings makes escape of water one of the likelier claims you will face; insurers increasingly ask about it, and unoccupancy conditions over winter closures deserve a close read.

For trades working in the town — builders, carpenters, decorators, electricians — the steep, narrow streets add their own wrinkles: scaffolding and access on awkward gradients, hired-in plant, working at height on old rooflines, and contract conditions from conservation-sensitive jobs. Heritage work is skilled, sought-after and higher-stakes; make sure your liability cover reflects the actual work you do on listed structures rather than a generic trade description.

The river that named the town

Frome takes its name from its river, and like most towns that grew up around water power, some of its lower-lying and former mill premises sit close to it. If yours does, the questions are practical: what flood excess applies, whether flood is restricted or excluded altogether, and whether your business interruption period reflects how long a flooded historic building genuinely takes to dry out and reinstate — which is longer than a modern one. Comparing policies on price alone hides exactly these differences. If flood terms are tightening at renewal, evidence of resilience measures can help the conversation with underwriters.

What the law requires — and what contracts require

Only one cover on this page is compelled by statute: if you employ anyone, the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 requires employers’ liability insurance. That includes casual and part-time help — the Saturday assistant in the shop, the packer you bring in before a busy market weekend, the apprentice in the workshop.

Public liability is not legally required, but in practice Frome’s economy generates contract after contract that demands it: market and event organisers, landlords of listed premises, venues, councils and commercial clients will all want to see a certificate, usually at a specified limit. Designers and consultants may also need professional indemnity for advice-based work. The right answer depends on what you actually do — which is a conversation, not a form.

To be clear about who we are: Apex Insurance Brokers is based in Bristol, not Frome. We arrange cover for clients across the UK, including businesses in Frome and the wider Somerset area — you deal with us by phone and email, and the policies are placed with the wider UK market rather than whoever happens to be nearest. For a broader look at what we arrange, see our commercial insurance page, or the trade-specific pages for builders and carpenters.

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.