Greggs makes big change in shops because of anti-social behaviour

'THE SAFETY OF OUR COLLEAGUES AND CUSTOMERS REMAINS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY' 06:44, 21 May 2025 High Street bakery Greggs will move its self-serve food and drinks to behind the

counter to stamp out shoplifting. The chain is trialling the measure at a handful of stores which, it said, were "exposed to higher levels of anti-social behaviour". The change

will not necessarily be rolled out across all Greggs' 2,600 bakeries in the UK. However, it may be rolled out to sites where there are high levels of theft, The BBC reports. Five shops

will initially be included in the trial including Whitechapel in east London, Peckham and Ilford. In 2024 shoplifting offences recorded by the police rose by 20% to 516,971, according the

Office for National Statistics. But the number of thefts recorded by retailers was far higher - for the year to last September shops saw a 3.7 million rise to 20.4 million, the British

Retail Consortium (BRC) said. Article continues below Andy Higginson - chair of sportswear and trainer retailer JD Sports and the BRC - recently told the BBC that some people saw shoplifting

as a "way of life", allowing them to trade or sell what they had stolen. "There is an element of society that is starting to take stealing from stores as a way of life and

that needs to be stopped," he said. According to the BBC, Greggs said customers could expect to see its full range behind its counters but added: "The safety of our colleagues and

customers remains our number one priority."