Costa Coffee has hired bouncers to prevent its food and drinks from being stolen by brazen thieves.
The high street giant has supposedly hired security guards at around 10 of its stores across the country which are facing repeated incidents of shoplifting on a daily basis.
Stores in Denmark Hill and Croydon, both located in south London, have become hotspots for rampant thieves storming on to the shop floor and stealing items from the shelves.
They have now hired full time security to watch over the fridges and deter any potential shoplifters from striking, according to The Sun.
Another Costa Coffee shop next to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre has also employed extra help, the newspaper claimed.
One staff member working inside the Market Street store said thieves often take products, such as toasties, orange juice and croissants, straight from the fridge.
They regularly target high value items such as £5.10 cheese and ham toasties and £4.10 stuffed croissants.
Costa has over 2,700 coffee shops across the UK and Ireland, with 10 of them thought to have now hired security guards.
Shoplifting offences in England and Wales rose by five per cent in the year to September 2025, reaching 519,381, as per the latest ONS figures.
In London alone, more than 100,000 offences were recorded in the year to October 2025, up significantly from 58,000 in 2023. Yet the Met Police attended just 14,000 of reported incidents.
Croydon has notably become a hotspot for shoplifting offences, with other high street chains in the area besides Costa also repeatedly targetted by thieves.
Guards working in one store in the borough previously revealed desperate shoplifters had set up a ‘black market’ for sausage rolls and doughnuts, selling them on the crime-ridden streets for 50p a pop.
Earlier this year, a prolific thief nicknamed the ‘Hamster’ by staff was spared jail after stealing close to £2,000 worth of items from the bakery.
In Hammersmith, west London, a shoplifter was physically restrained by two security guards while attempting to smuggle out bottles of fizzy drink in July last year.
It has become standard practice across the industry to urge supermarket staff to refrain from confronting shoplifters, with some even facing the sack if they do.
David McKelvey, an ex detective who runs his own private police force, TM Eye, said the policy – which is standard across the industry – was fuelling the shoplifting crisis.
‘The retailers are effectively leaving their doors wide open to offenders, including dangerous, violent criminals who attack their staff,’ the told the Daily Mail.
Costa is among dozens of high street retailers who have been hit hard by the impact of the cost of living crisis, having seen its losses double in 2024.
The high street brand, owned by Coca-Cola, saw its operating loss widen from £5.8m in 2023 to £13.5m in the year to December 2024.
The results mark the worst year for Costa since the pandemic, before which it was regularly reporting profits of up to £100 million per year.
In a statement Costa told the Daily Mail: ‘The safety and wellbeing of our team members and customers is always our top priority.
‘Like many retailers, we continually review security measures across our stores and, in a small number of locations, have introduced additional support where appropriate.
‘These measures are in place to support our teams and help ensure our stores remain safe and welcoming environments for everyone.’
