We map every charity shop in the UK

Our research team here at the Charity Retail Association, the only body to represent the entire charity retail sector, has completed the task of compiling a list of every known charity shop in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The latest figures show there are 11,249 charity shops operating in the UK, with the country-by-country break down as follows:

England: 9437
Scotland: 963
Wales: 549
Northern Ireland: 300

The research has been conducted to aid our public affairs objectives, which include campaigning on issues such as charity shop volunteering, Retail Gift Aid, rate relief for charity shops, plus promoting charity shops as environmental beacons and community hubs in British society.

More than 8,700 charity shops in the UK are members of the Charity Retail Association – around 77 per cent of the sector – with the target to raise this on an annual basis as part of the Association’s three-year strategic plan published in 2017.

Robin Osterley, Charity Retail Association CEO, said: “Our hard-working research team have done a great job in producing the most comprehensive and reliable set of statistics available anywhere on UK charity shops.

“We are determined to fulfil our strategic plan goal of being a trusted and respected repository of information about the sector and its performance.”