The city is one of eight areas across the state to suffer a spike in liquor thefts.

New Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show an overall 7.9 per cent increase in stealing from liquor stores over the past two years.

Alcohol made up five of the top 10 items stolen from retailers in 2015. Bourbon surged to the number one spot, with almost double the number of thefts since 2011.

Robert “Stumpy” Taylor, who owns the Dudley Hotel in Bathurst, said yesterday he wasn’t surprised by the latest statistics because retail theft was a big problem for all bottle shops.

“It’s all related to drug use,” Mr Taylor said. “Users want drugs but they have no cash, so the dealer just says I want two bottles of Jim Beam or whatever, and they steal it for the drugs.”

Mr Taylor said he and his staff were always extremely vigilant and the Dudley’s bottle shop was fitted out with high grade CCTV cameras, but the problem persisted.

“I’ve had kids knocking off cartons of beer,” he said. “One incident some young fellows knocked off a carton of Jim Beam and ran down the road with it.

“We chased after him and got it back, but you just can’t take your eyes off the shop for one minute.”

Mr Taylor also recalled a time when a car went through the drive-through, pulled up and someone stole a two litre bottle of Jim Beam on a cradle.

“That was $300 in one go. They are definitely getting more brazen,” he said.

“We have CCTV. It doesn’t prevent the thefts, it just solves it [when they give the images to the police].”

Phillip “Spud” Murphy, who manages the bottle shop at Bernardi’s Supa IGA, said people with lower disposble incomes were, generally speaking, the culprits.

“People don’t have the money to buy it so they just take it,” he said.

Mr Murphy said the pre-mixed drinks were generally targeted because they were small and could fit in a pocket.

He said theft was such a big problem, all the larger, more expensive bottles of spirits were now kept behind a locked glass cabinet, a security strategy being implemented across all IGA stores.

Like Mr Taylor, Mr Murphy said he had chased thieves stealing alcohol.

“I’ve chased people up to Annie’s [trying to get the alcohol back],” he said.

Mr Murphy said the store had CCTV and regularly prosecuted thieves.

“We keep in contact with the police and they are always really good,” he said.