Is public liability enough for a shop?

Public liability covers customer injury and third-party damage, but most shops also need stock, buildings, business interruption and employers liability — which is why a combined shop policy is usually the right structure.

Do I need business interruption cover?

If a fire or flood stopped you trading, business interruption replaces lost income and ongoing costs. For most shops it is the difference between a setback and a closure.

Do I need employers liability?

Yes — it is a legal requirement as soon as you employ anyone, including part-time and casual staff, with fines for trading without it.

Is stock covered away from the premises?

Stock in transit and at other locations can be added; the standard policy covers goods at the insured premises.

How is shop insurance priced?

On your trade, stock value, location, turnover and claims history — a named broker places it with insurers who want retail risks.

Shop insurance · Andover

Shop insurance in Andover

Reviewed by Apex Insurance Brokers · Published 16 July 2026

Andover sits at the western edge of Hampshire, a market and light-industrial town whose retail splits between the pedestrianised Chantry Centre and the trade units out towards the Walworth estate. A shop here might be a town-centre independent or a roadside unit catching A303 traffic — different stock, different footfall, different exposure.

Where the risks come from for Andover shops

For most Andover retailers the recurring loss is undramatic: the frozen pipe in a January cold snap, till-float shrinkage, a delivery van clipped in a tight loading bay behind the high street. Stock values also climb quietly before Christmas, so a sum insured set in spring can fall short of what is on the shelves by December.

An Andover example

A Chantry Centre gift shop stood a display of glassware too near a walkway; a pushchair caught the stand and brought it down days before the December trade. The stock loss was modest, but the claim also picked up a grazed child — the combined stock-and-liability event a shop policy is built to absorb.

What shop insurance covers

Cover for an Andover shop normally bundles stock and contents, business interruption to carry rent and wages while you trade from elsewhere, and public and products liability for customers and for what you sell. Employers' liability becomes a legal requirement the moment you take on even a Saturday assistant. Money, glass, and — where you own or lease the building — the fabric itself round it out.

Placing it in Andover with Apex

Apex places Andover shop cover as a commercial broker rather than a call centre: one named broker, FCA authorised (FRN 724952), with access to more than 30 insurer markets including Lloyd's through wholesale relationships. We have broked this way since 2009, sizing the sums insured to what the shop actually holds rather than to a default.

Andover commercial quote

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm reference number 724952. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. Trading address: QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ · Serving tradespeople in Andover and the wider region.

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Tell us about your business and we’ll place it on the specialist market — or leave your number and a named broker calls you back, usually the same working day.

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