Cafe owner fears bankruptcy after being burgled more than 50 times in four years

A cafe owner in south London has said she may be forced to close after she was burgled 50 times in just four years – with thieves ransacking stock from booze to ice cream.

Stephanie’s, in West Dulwich, has been targeted by criminals who have used specialist cutting gear to prise open metal containers used to protect stock overnight.

They recently plundered alcohol from the cafe and hit the premises twice in one week last month.

Owner Stephanie Morgan has beefed up security the cafe in response with several CCTV cameras being installed.

However thieves have been cutting the power to the cameras or turning them away from the crime scene. Most recently, they ransacked the cafe on September 16 and 18.

Ms Morgan told Metro the thieves had taken the business to the brink of bankruptcy.

She has even launching a GoFundMe page to survive after tens of thousands of pounds of losses triggered by the burglaries.

Stephanie told Metro: ‘It’s been a nightmare. Our cafe is near a park and they are getting over the fence. They recently hit us twice in two weeks in one raid stealing alcohol. We have been burgled around 50 times in the past four years. They steal anything. Food, drink and even furniture. Once they emptied a fridge of Magnums.

‘They have trashed the place so many times. It’s difficult to go on we are regularly losing our stock. I just can’t afford this.’

She said the thieves were mainly opportunists using the lack of CCTV covering the park gates or nearby West Dulwich station to make an easy getaway without being taped.

Stephanie set up the cafe in 2021 and has built up a loyal clientele. However, every morning she fears thieves and vandals will have struck again.

She said on the latest two raids: ‘The police have been good and arrived very quickly after the shark was raised at 2.50am. The police were there by 3am but they need good CCTV to follow up. I’ve also asked the council to put CCTV outside the park and station.’

Images from the burglaries showed the aftermath of the burglaries with debris scattered across the floor and with broken furniture.

Stephanie added: ‘How can businesses carry under these conditions? It’s difficult as it is but things are becoming impossible. Other businesses in the area are also having problems with shop lifters.

‘We have to pay for extra security cameras and things like that. We need more help and more CCTV provided by the authorities would be a start. These losses are taking their toll.’

Metro has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.

Meanwhile businesses in London have been under increasing financial pressure amid soaring shoplifting figures.

There were 93,705 shoplifting crimes reported in the year to March 2025. That was 54 per cent up on the previous year.

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