The mysterious crime wave shattering London’s high street

0:02Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to the Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up later in the show, from new hotel stays to cut-price beach breaks, travel expert Alicia Miller has your guide to the best bargain getaways.

0:30But first, Shops across London are repeatedly having their windows smashed without any goods being stolen. The spate of criminal damage to commercial properties spans the capital, with at least 50 hammer attacks on stores across London, such as the clothing brand Toast and the gift shop Scribbler. The cost of these repeated attacks is substantial. Last year, Scribbler's insurance company withdrew cover, as there was no indication that incidents were stopping. And businesses have lost dozens of trading days or had to reopen with their windows still damaged. But who would stand to benefit from these seemingly senseless acts of criminal damage?

1:14It's the subject of this week's special report, written by The Standard's Claudia Cockrell, who joins us now. So, Claudia, how did you first come across this story? I first came across this story because I was in London and in the same day I saw two branches of the clothing store Toast with their windows broken and at first I was thinking who's got a kind of vendetta against Toast and I started speaking to employees and they said that this has been going on for the last two years so there's nine Toast branches across London and they've been hit over 20 times in the last couple of years but it's not just them.

1:55They said that it's also happening to Scribbler, the gift card shop that does birthday cards with dad jokes on them. It's also happening to Zadig and Voltaire, which is a French clothing brand and a few other clothing brands. And they're often next to each other on these kind of well healed high streets like Hampstead High Street or Marlebone High Street. So sometimes they all get done in one night, but there's no ostensible thing that links them together. One of my early thoughts was that it could be some of them might have some sort of connection to Israel just because Barclays Bank had its windows smashed several times over its former ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer.

2:31But none of these brands seem to have anything of the sort. Toast is this cozy English clothing brand that does woolen sweater vests. Scribbler does silly little cards and stuffed animals. They all seem pretty benign. So the idea that someone could have a vendetta or be protesting doesn't really hold water, especially because, you know, there's been over 50 attacks on these stores in the last couple of years. So to me, this is an instance of something more serious, kind of organized crime. And how far back do these attacks go? So it's been happening to these chain stores across London for the last couple of years, but actually in 2023, it was happening mainly in Hackney and Tower Hamlets to various independent businesses.

3:16So there was a wine bar in Hackney called Elliott's, which was targeted three times. They've actually now switched their windows from glass to perspex because they didn't know when it was going to stop. There was various independent stores that were targeted. Some of these places don't have insurance. They can't necessarily afford to pay for the damage. And it was a real mystery back then, especially because crime was really high in the area. There was lots of break-ins where money or valuables would be stolen. But in this case, it was that windows were being smashed and nothing would be stolen.

3:48So there's a real mystery of why someone would want to do that. Was there anything linking these attacks? Do they have anything in common? I spoke to dozens of business owners and there was one common thread which emerged, which was that they had all used the same window glazer to repair the damage. So the way it would begin is often that a single window might be broken by a thief who'd actually broken into the store or by accident. And so they would call this business up and come and fix the damage and it would all be fine. And then weeks later, they would find that all of their windows had been broken or several of them.

4:26And then they would call that glazer back. And then the cycle would repeat itself again, in some cases, several times. The businesses in East London were mainly split between Tower Hamlets and Hackney. And police weren't really coordinating on the issue or treating it as linked. They actually banded together and created their own spreadsheet of all the attacks that had happened. I think there was about 19 businesses in total. And they realized that six of them had suffered repeat attacks. And all six of those businesses had used the same window glazer. And then when they changed to a different one, the attacks would stop.

5:01And the owner of this glazing business is a man with a criminal past. But when we contacted him, he strongly denied any involvement. What has the police's involvement been? The case dried up a bit in 2023 with the independent businesses in East London, but the Met have said that they are now investigating the recent reports of criminal damage, the ones in the last 18 months to these stores like Toast, Scribbler, Zadig and Voltaire. And they said that on July 22nd, they arrested a man in his 40s in connection with the recent offences this year. Finally, how has this affected the capital's businesses?

5:38This has been a really damaging thing for many shop owners. Scribbler said that the damage has cost them well over£100 ,000. Fifteen of their shops have been targeted in the last couple of years. And in East London, the effects were huge. there was a independent business owner who told me that they ended up closing down their shop just because it was too stressful and scary. Many people felt that they were being targeted, they had no idea if they'd done something wrong, if it was a vengeful ex-employee. I think it was a really distressing time for a lot of people. Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, Stay tuned for holiday inspiration if you're contemplating a late summer getaway.

6:23We'll see you back here in just a moment.

6:31Welcome back. Now the early spring London heatwave has been and gone. Blackberries are on the bushes and it's August tomorrow. But if you're still craving a summer holiday, there's time to escape for some much needed rest and recuperation. Freelance travel writer Alicia Miller has rounded up the best options so you can make the most of what's left of the summer in style. And she joins me now. Alicia, in your opinion, what's the best month in summer to take some time off? I think the answer to this is probably whenever you can. People obviously have different commitments with their jobs. And if you have children, you'll be bound by the school holidays, of course.

7:12But assuming you have absolutely no commitments to worry about, you can travel anytime you'd like. For me, I would definitely say the very end of summer being September. Anytime we get past the school holidays, past Labor Day in America, and those kind of holidays in Europe as well, the prices for flights go down, sometimes by hundreds of pounds, especially if we're talking international flights, or long haul flights. the kids are back at school everywhere is less busy resorts specialize in family holidays as well are much much quieter so you can really not only get a great deal you can actually get a space because sometimes if you're talking about august places can be booked up really far in advance so if you can travel in september what are some of the best deals you found for a last minute holiday Well, these are always a movable feast.

8:08So I put an asterisk here to say, you know, they were available when I checked, but things can book up really quickly. But the good news is there's always something else if these particular ones aren't available. But for example, with Turquoise, I found a lovely trip to the Maldives, staying at the luxury all-inclusive Hotel de Gali at a 50 % discount at the moment. And actually, for the Indian Ocean, this time of year can be brilliant to go because you can find a lot of discounts like that. because most people tried to go in the winter months to escape the cold. But actually, this time of year, fewer people are looking at it.

8:52There are fewer flights, but you can get a really stellar deal. And as long as you don't mind the possibility of a little bit of rain here and there, you can get a really great discount and have the overwater villa dream in the Maldives. Another one I found is with yellow zebra going to the Masaymara. And this is a really great time to go there because you can see the very famous Great Wildebeest migration. And that's 25 % off for a last minute booking. So that's a really great deal. And if you book the Massey Mara Safari, you'll also get game drives, camel and horse ride, mountain biking, and the chance to sleep out in a treehouse, which is a pretty amazing family holiday.

9:38The memories you'll have will be spectacular. And then finally, at the moment, three nights in New York with Virgin holidays, Virgin Atlantic holidays from£768 per person for three days, including your return flights. And that's pretty great because that's traveling in August. In August time, traveling to North America can often be the flights alone. You might pay that. So to get also three hotel nights included, that's really great. What options are there for people who don't want to go abroad? So I have some ideas in the piece that I've written about last minute holidays that you'll find on the standard website.

10:15But in general, I would say you can always find a last minute cottage rental, if you are interested in self catering, and websites that have really nice properties, including boutique retreats and rural retreats, as just two examples, they actually have last minute sections on their websites. so you can go right in and see which places are available for the next couple of weeks and there's always really great deals on there and they will change from day to day or as stock comes up so always have a look at that kind of thing and I would say in terms of UK hotels what's worth knowing is that it's not an exact science but depending on the specific hotel if it's a hotel that tends to be very popular with the UK clientele those hotels often are booked up really last minute depending on the weather and summertime.

11:07So a beachside hotel in the UK might actually not have a lot of rooms booked if the weather's looking a bit dreary. So if you're not too bothered about weather, maybe you want to just go to the spa and relax or have a great meal at the restaurant or cocktails, you can actually find some really great last minute deals. So I would just say keep an eye on the website and always ring them, give the hotel a ring and say, I'm looking at traveling in the next couple of days. What kind of offer can you give me? Because you might be surprised. They might throw in breakfast for free, a bottle of wine for free, a room upgrade, or just a discount on the normal rate.

11:42Any good ideas for solo travelers? So I've mentioned one in my piece, going to Bodrum on the 1st of September with solo holidays. They have one, a seven night group tour with swimming and mountain jeep safaris and all that stuff. So just under a thousand pounds, which is a nice price for seven days to Bodrum. But I would also say almost any tour operator can make a solo trip. And again, if it's last minute and they've got places to fill, they might be happy to do something like say, waive any single supplements that they would normally have. So get in touch with them and say, I'm looking at traveling over these dates or sometime in the next two weeks, what have you got available to me?

12:26And actually that's a tip that anyone can use, not just solo travellers. You might be surprised how much of a discount you might get offered. Do you have any summer trips planned or have you already been on holiday? I've just come off a cruise actually with Celebrity Cruises, which was a really interesting experience with my daughter who's 15 months. So that was fun. I'll be heading to Somerset for a piece, hoping that we'll see a bit of sunshine after today's rain. And then in a couple weeks from now I'm off to Canada and that's a real holiday actually to visit my family there and I'll be going to the wine regions in Ontario and eating some beautiful Ontario produce like peaches and sweet corn and also going to the city in Toronto and actually for anyone looking for a slightly different city break in summer last minute Toronto is an excellent place to head

13:18and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk if you'd like to get in touch please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk we'll be back here tomorrow at 5pm we'll see you then