Greggs rolls back self-service cabinets in shoplifting hotspots
Keir Starmer will attempt to call time on a “disgraceful” shoplifting epidemic afflicting the UK’s retailers, as Greggs became the latest to take action to deter thieves.The bakery chain has axed self-service display cabinets in stores that have been most severely hit by shoplifters.They are the latest measures aimed at combating a problem plaguing the high street.Last year official figures revealed annual shoplifting offences in England and Wales had passed half a million offences for the first time, and since then many retailers have reported high levels of crime in their shops.Starmer, whose government is attempting to introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, will say on Monday: “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 add that his government has put an extra 3,000 neighbourhood police officers on the streets and scrapped the effective immunity for thieves stealing goods worth less than £200.“That was a shoplifters’ charter, and we’ve ended it,” he is expected to say.Despite the promised crackdown, retailers appear to be pressing on with their own initiatives.Self-service display cabinets are being replaced at a selection of Greggs outlets, with staff now handing over products to customers from behind a theft-proof counter.
Branches in Croydon and Peckham, south London; Whitechapel and Upton Park, in east London; and in Birmingham and Wilford, Nottinghamshire, are all testing the new format.The company also said it is introducing software systems that supply information directly to police stations.The trial follows Greggs seemingly becoming a target of habitual shoplifters, while its rivals Pret a Manger and Costa have reportedly employed the services of bouncers to guard their stock from shoplifters.Last week Archie Norman, the chair of Marks & Spencer, told the Daily Telegraph that self-checkouts have been fuelling a rise in shoplifting among “good, honest people”.In February, the British Retail Consortium said criminal gangs were “systematically” targeting shops, with the 5.
5m incidents of shoplifting detected during the past year costing the industry an estimated £400m,The trade organisation also warned of “endemic” violence towards shop workers, who collectively faced an average 36 incidents of violence involving a weapon every day last year,Greggs said in a statement: “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,”
From Mother Mary to Foo Fighters: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
An idiosyncratic thriller sees Anne Hathaway’s pop icon and Michaela Coel’s fashion designer embark on a psychosexual romance, while Dave Grohl and his boys are back with album number 12Mother MaryOut now Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel play a pop star and a fashion designer embroiled in a psychosexual affair in this A24 drama-slash-thriller from the reliably idiosyncratic director David Lowery. Also starring FKA twigs, Sian Clifford and Hunter Schafer.Rose of NevadaOut now Starring George MacKay and possible future James Bond Callum Turner, this is a sci-fi drama from talented director Mark Jenkin about a boat lost at sea for three decades that mysteriously reappears. Some might suggest it’s advisable to stay away from this clearly uncanny boat, but that would make for a shorter movie.Exit 8Out now Based on the hit video game set in a Japanese metro station passageway, this high-concept horror has its protagonist, The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) trapped in a seemingly inescapable spatial loop, looking for the anomalies that will help him progress through the eerie environment
The play’s the thing – but everyone has their own favourite | Letters
Thank you for Michael Billington’s brilliant and fascinating ranking of Shakespeare’s plays, which will surely give rise to much debate (To see or not to see? Every single Shakespeare play – ranked!, 22 April).I’d like to make a case for promotion of The Tempest from its lowly 25th position. Admittedly my fondness for it started with doing it for A-level in 1968, but, having the good fortune to see both the all-female women’s prison version, starring Harriet Walter, and the RSC magical hi-tech production within a few months, I think its versatility deserves a higher ranking. I would swap it with The Winter’s Tale, which for me is just a bit too weird.Marian SainsburyEdinburgh I studied A Midsummer Night’s Dream at school in the 1960s
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘A delicate snowflake with the thinnest fat skin of any human being ever’
Late-night hosts imagined an alternative White House correspondents’ dinner roast and recapped Donald Trump’s latest erratic threats on Iran.On Thursday evening, Jimmy Kimmel looked ahead to this weekend’s annual gala hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which Donald Trump promised would be the “GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!”“The only thing hotter than this dinner are his diapers on the golf course,” the host quipped.This will be the first time that Trump attends the annual event for press and politicians as president, and the Daily Beast reported that his plan for the occasion is to lambast the media and leave, in an intentional “mic-drop moment” – “which I think would be disappointing”, said Kimmel.“This is the first time Trump is even going to the correspondents’ dinner as president,” he added, “but he doesn’t have to worry about being made fun of, because the event isn’t being hosted by a comedian this year.” Instead, the White House Correspondents’ Association hired mentalist Oz Pearlman to perform
‘It’s iconic worldwide – it’s special to skateboard there’: the South Bank skatepark turns 50
The undercroft at London’s Southbank Centre has been a haven for skateboarders since the 1970s. Now a new exhibition is celebrating its contribution to culture – and communityShane O’Brien first skated at London’s Southbank Centre in the summer of 1975, at the age of 10. But before he could call himself a “Southbanker”, a regular of the famous spot, he had to face a certain ritual. In 1983 he was launched into the Thames by senior skaters and could finally consider himself one of the crew. Now in his 60s, O’Brien calls the South Bank his second home
Seth Meyers on Kash Patel: ‘He has resting “run for your lives” face’
Late-night hosts dug into the allegations of FBI director Kash Patel’s excessive drinking, Donald Trump’s Iran war struggles and some questionable math by RFK Jr.On Wednesday evening, Seth Meyers relished more details from a shocking Atlantic report from this weekend detailing alleged excessive drinking and erratic behavior by the FBI director, Kash Patel. According to more than two dozen current and former FBI officials, Patel was known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, and many people expected him to be fired for his unreachability and impulsivity.“Generally speaking, you don’t want to hear that the country’s top law enforcement official is known for having freak-outs, you know?” the Late Night host said. “When you’re the head of the FBI, you’re supposed to be calm and level-headed
Post your questions for Melanie C
Some former girl- and boyband stars spend a lifetime trying to escape the image that made them famous. Not Melanie C. Since the Spice Girls debuted 30 years ago this summer (What’s that sound? Oh, it’s just the unadulterated violence of mortality) she has never shied away from her past as Sporty Spice. Her ninth album, Sweat, leans firmly into it. Led by its gauntlet-throwing title track, these are work-bitch bangers for the gym, the dancefloor – inspired by her pre-Spice raving youth – and quite possibly the bedroom, sung by a triathlon fiend who forged a reputation as a world-renowned DJ
Oil at three-week high as US-Iran peace talks stall, and Goldman lifts price forecast – business live
Nationwide could have first customer on board for nearly 25 years
Musk and Altman’s bitter feud over OpenAI to be laid bare in court
UK departments at odds over energy demands of AI datacentres
Ireland revenge mission falls flat amid flurry of squandered chances but England march on | Sarah Rendell
Storm success was as certain as death and taxes. So how has it all gone wrong? | Nick Tedeschi