Greggs has removed self-service display cabinets from a number of its stores in response to a surge in shoplifting, becoming the latest high‑street name to take direct action against what the prime minister has called a “disgraceful” epidemic.
Greggs trials theft‑proof cabinets
The bakery chain is testing the replacement of open cabinets – which previously held items such as cold sandwiches and bottled drinks – with staff‑operated counters in a “very small number of shops” that have been most severely hit by thieves. Staff now hand products to customers from behind a theft‑proof counter. Branches in Croydon and Peckham, south London; Whitechapel and Upton Park, east London; and in Birmingham and Wilford, Nottinghamshire, are all part of the trial.
Greggs is also introducing software systems that supply information directly to police stations. In a statement the company said: “This is one of a number of initiatives we are trialling across a very small number of shops which are exposed to higher levels of antisocial behaviour.” Other measures being tested include high‑security doors, panic alarms and systems to share images of suspected shoplifters with the police.
The move follows reports that some Greggs stores were being targeted by thieves as frequently as every 20 minutes. Rivals Pret a Manger and Costa have reportedly employed bouncers to guard their stock.
Starmer pledges crackdown
Keir Starmer is expected to use a speech on Monday to declare that the shoplifting epidemic affecting the UK’s retailers must end. “Working people – grafters – go to work, do the right thing, keep our high streets thriving and yet too often they are abused or assaulted by people who think they can get away with it and just cheat the system. It’s disgraceful,” he will say.
His government has already taken steps to address the problem. The effective immunity for thefts of goods worth less than £200 – a rule introduced in 2014 that meant low‑value shoplifting was treated as a summary offence – has been scrapped. Starmer is expected to call the previous arrangement a “shoplifters’ charter” and add: “That was a shoplifters’ charter, and we’ve ended it.” The Crime and Policing Bill will repeal the threshold, allowing all shoplifting crimes to be tried as general theft with a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.
The government is also introducing a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker, affording shop staff protections similar to those of emergency workers. A further 3,000 neighbourhood police officers have been put on the streets, and £5m has been invested in a specialist policing intelligence unit called Opal, designed to identify prolific offenders and disrupt organised shoplifting gangs.
Scale of the epidemic
Official figures show the problem has reached record levels. In the year ending March 2025, police in England and Wales recorded 530,643 shoplifting offences – a 19.5% increase on the previous year and a 55% rise compared with 2022/23. The year ending December 2024 saw 516,971 offences, up 20% year‑on‑year and the highest since current Home Office counting rules were introduced in 2002/03.
Retailers and their trade bodies say these numbers dramatically understate the reality. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) estimates that more than 20 million incidents of shoplifting occur annually, with many going unreported because stores have lost faith that police will act. One BRC survey put the number of detected shoplifting incidents at 5.5 million in the past year, costing the industry an estimated £400m. Another report suggested 6.2 million incidents of shop theft in 2024 alone.
The financial impact is severe. The BRC reported that theft losses doubled to £1.8bn in the year ending August 2024, and the total cost of retail crime – including prevention measures – is estimated at £4.2bn a year. In 2023/24, theft alone cost retailers £2.2bn.
Criminal gangs are “systematically” targeting shops, according to the BRC, stealing high‑value, easily resold goods in what is seen as a low‑risk, high‑reward venture.
Certain areas are particularly hard hit. London dominates, with Westminster – home to Oxford Street – recording 7,150 shoplifting incidents between January and November 2025. The North East of England has the highest average rate of offences per 100,000 people; Cleveland Police recorded 14 shoplifting crimes per 1,000 residents. Other hotspots include Nottinghamshire (Nottingham, Mansfield, Bassetlaw), and parts of Yorkshire and the Humber. In contrast, areas such as Devon and Surrey have the lowest rates per capita.
The causes of the surge are multiple. The cost‑of‑living crisis and inflation have driven some to steal necessities. Archie Norman, chair of Marks & Spencer, has blamed self‑checkout machines for tempting “impatient middle classes, too entitled to suffer self‑service technology” into theft; he told the Daily Telegraph that self‑checkouts break the “human link” between retailers and shoppers. More than 40% of shoppers surveyed admitted to having shoplifted, with self‑checkout problems cited as a key reason. The Association of Convenience Stores notes that almost half of shoplifters are repeat offenders, often with drug or alcohol problems – a 2018 report suggested drug dependency drives about 70% of UK retail theft. Since the pandemic, demographics have widened, with pensioners and mothers with children among those caught.
Retailers fight back
High‑street chains are pursuing a range of responses beyond Greggs’ trial. Marks & Spencer has installed more self‑checkouts but also called for more effective policing in London after one of its stores was ransacked. Last week Archie Norman said self‑checkouts had been fuelling a rise in shoplifting among “good, honest people”.
Other measures deployed across the sector include CCTV, security tags, hired guards, locked cases for high‑value items, store‑layout optimisation, mirrors, zero‑tolerance signage, dummy display packaging, body‑worn cameras, AI and facial recognition technology, and alarmed security tags that do not require gates.
The level of violence directed at retail workers remains a grave concern. The BRC has warned of “endemic” violence towards shop staff, who collectively faced an average of 36 incidents involving a weapon every day last year. The trade body reported around 1,600 incidents of violence or abuse daily in the retail sector. Usdaw’s survey indicates that two‑thirds of attacks on retail staff are triggered by theft or armed robbery. Nearly 80% of shop workers have experienced verbal abuse, and more than half have been threatened by customers, leading to anxiety, fear and physical harm.
