A café boss in an affluent London suburb has said she is on the brink of bankruptcy after being burgled more than 50 times.
Stephanie Morgan, 45, reckons she has lost thousands in the ‘constant’ raids on her business, Stephanie’s SE21 in leafy Dulwich, south London.
Thieves have trashed the café, stolen food and drink, and even cleared out her freezer, making off with 100 Magnum ice creams.
The mother-of-one tried everything to fight back, fitting cameras, shock sensors, outdoor alarms and even smoke bombs, which briefly stopped the break-ins.
But soon after, the systems were eventually disarmed, and raiders struck again.
Desperate to see the end of this, she later added 15 more cameras and relaunched the café with new menus, only for burglars to smash storage units and steal stock a week later.
Now, the owner says she has started to feel defeated and doesn’t know what more she can do to save her business.
She has reported some of the break-ins to the Metropolitan Police, who are investigating, but no one has yet been convicted.
Ms Morgan said: ‘People just jump over the fence. It has been constant.
‘They smash in and steal the furniture and decorations. Because it is an outdoor café, I have fridges and freezers outside and they would smash up all the storage areas.
‘It feels like no matter what I do it just doesn’t seem to be enough. I don’t want to let the café go. I want to do everything that I can to save it.’
Ms Morgan opened the café in April 2021 for her father, who had been diagnosed with cancer, turning a derelict car park beside Belair Park into a bustling community hub.
But its quiet location has made it a magnet for thieves. She says there have been more than 50 raids in just four years, including two in the past week alone.
With the structure only temporary, she cannot insure it and has been forced to cover thousands in stolen stock and damage herself.
She has worked out that she is paying an extra £18,000 a year in wages alone because of the extra security tasks.
She said: ‘It is such a low-profit-margin café. I have never taken any money from the café, I am always just putting more money in.
‘It is so time-consuming to run the business. In July I thought that I had to either let the café go or invest into it even further. So, I used all my personal money to fund a refurbishment.
‘It is not so much the value of the items that they take but the impact on our growth. It has had a huge financial impact on the business and me personally.
Alcohol was among the burglars’ favourite hauls, forcing her to stop selling it and losing another key revenue stream.
She poured her own savings into a full refurbishment this summer, but the constant break-ins are pushing her business to the brink, saying: ‘It has got to the point where the business could bankrupt me.’
The stress has also left her unable to focus on her other venture, juice brand Raw and Juicy.
As a last resort, she has launched a fundraising page which has already brought in more than £600.
She added: ‘When I have spoken to the community about the possibility of the café not being here anymore, they always express how much it means to them. It is really the heart of West Dulwich.
‘It is a community café so anything that I can do to secure it and grow it I will do. I am not going to give it up.’
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Officers are continuing to investigate two burglaries at a café in West Dulwich.
‘Police were called to the premises on Thurlow Park Road, SE21 shortly after 3am on Thursday, 18 September following an alert from a burglary alarm.
‘Officers attended within five minutes of the alert. When carrying out enquiries, the victim’s reported a separate burglary which occurred on Tuesday, 16 September.
‘Enquiries remain ongoing and no arrests have been made at this stage.’
