A smiling woman choosing fresh vegetables at a food market stall.

Stallholders & market stall insurance

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

Applies to new policies. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies where Home Emergency Cover is added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Here's what customers say about our small business insurance.

Stolen laptop? Damaged mobile? We'll replace your essential tech within 24hrs of claim approval, with Business Tech Essentials. Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays
  • We grow with you - if your business grows or changes, we won't charge you admin fees to amend your policy.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.
    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.
  • We won't be beaten on price. We'll beat your new business insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer. Applies to new policies. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies where Home Emergency Cover is added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Stallholder insurance that works for you

No one day is the same when you trade from your stall or pop-up. Not only do you get to travel to a variety of locations and meet new people, you also have to take on different roles within your business. From production and distribution to sales and product replenishment - you've got a lot to manage. You need to know your insurance will cover you for your business activities.

At Direct Line for Business, we offer an insurance policy you can customise yourself. Using our simple online tool, you can select the areas of your business you want to insure, so you get all the cover you need without paying for the cover you don't.

If you just need public and products liability, as required by the market or fair organisers, you could get a policy today, with instant access to your public liability insurance certificate.

Whether you sell food, handmade jewellery, scarves or gifts, we can provide insurance that's just right for your business. If you decide to expand your business later, by selling your products online or in a shop, for example, you can amend your policy without having to pay any admin fees.

All your cover is contained within one policy, so you only have one renewal date to remember. It couldn't be easier.

Getting a quote online

When you start your online quote you will be asked to enter your trade. We cannot offer you a quote if you enter your trade as 'market trader', as this is too general a description. You will need to make sure to specify the type of products you sell, e.g. food and drink retail, arts and crafts retail, or clothing and accessories retail.

Confused by an insurance term?

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Cover Options

You can select any of the following cover options to create a policy that precisely fits your business needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out building works on a client's house.

This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.

If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million.

Read more about public liability

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can read more about here.

We cover you for £10 million, as standard. This covers the legal and compensation costs you are required to pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.

Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This would cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

Contents and stock cover is essential for businesses that supply goods or rely on specific equipment to run their business.

A seamstress would not be able to work without a sewing machine, a web designer would not be able to code without a computer and you may not be able to run your business without your trusty tablet.

Meanwhile, there will be other more general items that you might rely on for your business, like your office furniture or your shop tills. Insure your business contents so that if they're damaged by an insured event, such as fire or theft, your business keeps going.

If you sell goods, you'll want to insure your stock, whether that's raw materials or the finished article. If your goods are damaged or stolen, what have you got to sell?

Our different cover options allow you to insure your business equipment and stock at your premises, when you're on the move, or both. Whether you work at home, at fairs, in shared workspaces or visit a lot of clients, we've got you covered. And when you insure stock at your premises or home, you'll also get an extra 25% of stock covered for two months of your choice as standard, ideal for your busiest periods.

And now with Business Tech Essentials, if your essential tech is stolen or damaged, we'll replace it within 24 hours from claim approval.

When you cover your electrical items and tech you get Business Tech Essentials. Which means if your essential tech - like laptops, mobiles, or tablets - are stolen or damaged we'll replace them within 24 hours of claim approval.

Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays.

Peace of mind, if you experience a sudden and unexpected issue, which can cause damage to your home, makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, home emergency's 24-hour claims line means help is never far away. You'll have a certified contractor, such as plumbers, electricians, glaziers, locksmiths, or drainage engineers at your home within 4 hours of your claim being registered, to make the property secure or prevent further damage. In addition, you have access to gas engineers, pest control services and roofers, but these are not subject to the 4-hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.

Up to £1,500 inc. VAT per claim for call-out charges, labour costs and materials for insured emergencies, such as issues with plumbing, heating or pest infestations.

There's no excess to pay and no limit on how often you can claim.

You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy, so long as you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance or business contents insurance on your policy. It is available on new and renewal policies, it can't be added during the policy term.

Home emergency isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises.

For more information click here.

Depending on the type of business you run, you might work from home, in an office, at your shop, a client's premises or a shared working space. If your working premises became unusable due to an insured event like a fire or flood, business interruption will cover the costs of relocating until it's fixed. It can also cover you for any lost turnover during this time if you've insured your premises or business property with us.

If your main supplier or customer suffers damage to their premises and can't trade, we'll cover you for the loss of business you'll suffer. Equally, if a market or fair that you regularly attend suffers a fire, we'll cover the lost turnover for the time you can't trade there. Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.

Our business interruption cover can insure you if you or one of your key employees becomes seriously disabled and is unable to continue work. We will cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen from you in transit, from a safe or on you while you're working at other premises, such as your clients' homes. Maximum limits apply.

This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.

Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity.

We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.

If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.

You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.

If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

This includes:

  • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
  • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock, and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

If you choose business interruption cover, you can extend this to include cover for reduced turnover and the costs of setting up elsewhere, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you not being able to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within 1 mile of your business.

Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by adding it online or by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

Frequently asked questions

All the covers we offer are useful. However, for market traders, it is particularly important to have public and product liability. This is to ensure you're covered if your products cause harm to any customers, or if you injure someone or cause accidental damage to their property in the course of running your business. For example, if you accidentally bump into another stall and break someone's stock or a customer or a member of the public trips over an unattended box, your stallholder public liability insurance will pay for the damage or injury.

If your stock gets damaged or stolen at your home, business premises or at a market or fair, you would be left with nothing to sell. Contents and stock cover would pay for the costs of replacing the items so that you can get your business back up and running again.

When you run a pop-up or stall, you're dependent on venues to gain access to your customers. If a venue suddenly closes because of an insured event such as fire or flood, business interruption would cover both your loss of earnings for missed days trading and the cost of setting up elsewhere.

We only provide annual policies and therefore we don't provide stallholder insurance for one day events. The reason for this is that if someone is injured because of your product, you need to be covered for the day the damage occurred, not just the day of purchase. Our annual public and product liability insurance ensures that you'll be covered if you're faced with unexpected legal costs.

We can cover your business if your pop-up is:

  • A temporary store-within-a-store
  • A stall within a shopping centre
  • A temporary structure at an event
  • A temporary structure within a shopping area
  • A temporary unit in a shopping centre
  • A short-term rental of a retail unit

If your business works differently to the options stated above, please enter your information on our online quote tool. You will be referred to one of our specialist business insurance advisors to discuss your particular set up.

If you operate any of the following types of stall, we will refer you to one of our specialist business advisors:

  • A stall or pop-up on a highway lay-by or on/beside roads open to traffic
  • A stall or pop-up at public transport stations
  • A car boot sale stall
  • A stall or pop-up that operates for more than 30 consecutive days in one location
  • A stall or pop-up run that operates for more than 200 days a year

We do not cover pop-up restaurants.

If you do not comply with the manufacturer's instructions and local council guidelines when erecting and securing a temporary structure at a market, festival, fair or event, you will need to be referred to one of our specialist business advisors.

At Direct Line for Business we believe in the best health & safety practices, so consider it in your and the public's best interests to follow the guidelines provided when erecting structures like gazebos and stalls.

Policy documents

If you have an existing quote or policy with us, you can view and download your policy documents from the My Account page.

We tailor all our policies, so your documents only show what you've chosen to cover.

Here is a summary of a generic policy, from 24 April 2024 onwards, which shows the main covers and exclusions in our policies.

Existing customers?

For existing customers, we are required to supply your employers' liability insurance policy details to the Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO). Read more about ELTO here:

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