For a number of years, people around Britain have spoken of what they perceived to be "dodgy shops" on their High Street.
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they → speak → Street
To many, it seemed new businesses were popping up that had little obvious purpose or, in many cases, a huge number of direct competitors already in situ.
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that → seem → situ
Rumours spread between neighbours about money-laundering mini-marts and gang-owned vape stores.
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Rumours → spread → marts
There was a vague feeling of unease about all of this - but it was difficult for ordinary people living nearby to prove there was anything amiss.
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people → be → this
And so when we started looking into the topic last February, I didn't truly appreciate the scale of what was really going on on our High Streets.
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what → start → Streets
Our BBC team has travelled across the UK - including to Plymouth, Rochdale, Shrewsbury, Newport and Bradford - exposing what we have found to be brazen criminality on the High Street.
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we → travel → Street
In Hull, we unearthed underground tunnels supplying sacks of illegal cigarettes to High Street mini-marts.
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we → unearth → marts
In Swansea, we watched as officers smashed in windows of "stash cars" that were used to hide illegal cigarettes during the day, and deal drugs at night.
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that → watch → night
And we exposed a network of high street shops selling illegal tobacco fronted by "ghost directors" masking the real owners.
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we → expose → owners
Freedom of Information requests revealed for the first time that more than 3,600 shops across the UK had illegal goods - such as counterfeit cigarettes, tobaccos, and vapes - seized over 2024-25.
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shops → reveal → 2024
The then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described some of our findings as a "disgrace".
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Secretary → describe → disgrace
Throughout our reporting we were repeatedly attacked and threatened.
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we → attack → reporting
In lots of places, it seems, High Streets have become a front for organised crime.
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Streets → seem → crime
The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that at least £1bn of criminal cash is laundered through UK High Street stores each year.
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1bn → estimate → stores
"People want to feel safe… [going] down the local High Street," says John Herriman, chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
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Herriman → want → Institute
"The concern is that they don't feel as safe as they used to.
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they → feel → ?
Every episode of High Street criminality causes local angst.
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episode → cause → angst
But when you look at the national picture - as we have done over the last year - another broader lesson emerges.
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lesson → look → year
High Streets seem to offer insight into Britain's troubles.
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Streets → seem → troubles
Like a cracked mirror, they reflect other trends in British society, including lacklustre income growth, inequality and the boom in online shopping.
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they → reflect → shopping
And some analysts tell us that obvious criminality on the High Street is shaping politics too, turning voters away from long-established parties and towards political newcomers.
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criminality → tell → newcomers
So how did it get to this?
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it → get → this
Organised crime has always existed on the High Street, says Elijah Glantz, a research fellow into organised crime at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), a security think tank.
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Glantz → exist → Institute
"Nail bars, pubs, certain restaurants - anything that's cash-intensive has always been vulnerable to organised crime exploiting it," he says.
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he → exploit → it
Criminals like cash because unlike card transactions or bank transfers, it is largely untraceable, which makes it useful for both transactions and money laundering.
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it → like → transactions
But in the last decade, he says, both the police and Trading Standards - a body enforcing consumer protection laws - have been squeezed.
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police → say → laws
Since then, crime has seemingly become more visible.
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crime → become → ?
We're looking at organised crime that has manifested because nobody has put it away, nobody has forced it underground," says Glantz.
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Glantz → look → it
And that brazenness has a sharp psychological effect, analysts say - particularly on politics.
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analysts → have → politics
Nick Plumb, a director at the Power to Change think tank, says that the sight of open criminality on the High Street fuels feelings of "powerlessness" - a force that's proving potent in UK politics.
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that → say → politics
"The sense of a lack of control… has been a key feature of our politics over the last decade," he says.
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he → say → decade
"High Streets are incredibly important [to] how people feel about the country… and politics.
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people → feel → country
And it's not just criminality that people care about.
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people → care → that
In particular, Plumb's analysis showed that in the 2024 general election, support for Reform UK was higher in the 100 places in England with the biggest increases in persistent High Street vacancy relative to the rest of the country.
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support → show → country
This is based on parliamentary seats they won, or came second in.
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they → base → seats
It built on previous research - from academics at the universities of Warwick and Oxford, and Imperial College London - that linked visible High Street decline to support for the United Kingdom Independence Party, an earlier political outfit of Nigel Farage, between 2009 and 2019.
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that → build → 2009
Plumb says that "High Street decline is only partially explained by deprivation," and points to the "rise of online shopping and out-of-town retail, distant and uninterested ownership [and] changing working habits" as a factors behind the decline.
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decline → say → decline
This decline often starts with those vacant units.
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decline → start → units
Glantz from Rusi thinks that as legitimate businesses close, crime moves in.
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crime → think → Rusi
"Rents are down, there's a lot of empty spaces, so landlords are willing to pretty much take just about anybody," he says.
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he → be → anybody
…and 68 more, not listed.
