Chef Jose Pizarro was lying on the beach on holiday in his native Spain last Sunday when he received a message: one of his restaurants in London – Jose Tapas Bar on Bermondsey Street – had been broken into. “I felt very sad and very angry, but also very calm at the same time,” Pizarro tells me. “Because this is a normal thing now; I’m used to it. It’s almost like, whatever, another one.”This was the fourth time in the last two years that his tapas bar was broken into. It happened in broad daylight at 5.40am on a Sunday morning, with thieves stealing several bottles of spirits and wine. The estimated damage, which includes repairing broken glass, is £600.“It’s not about the money – it’s about the stress, and the moral side of it,” explains Pizarro. “My team had to deal with getting there at 6am in the morning, working out what’s going on, what can they do? It’s the fact that it keeps happening again. Stealing is becoming normalised. I’m really angry with the system that allows this to happen.”Pizarro posted a CCTV clip of the break-in on his Instagram account, writing: “It breaks my heart that so many small businesses in London are going through this again and again. Behind the scenes our staff are working hard, trying their best, supporting families, paying bills.“We pay more tax than ever before – huge amounts in tax, work endless hours, to create jobs and try to build good places for our communities… while the streets around us become dirtier and less safe by the day, and it often feels like the system protects the criminals and thieves more than the people trying to do the right thing. It’s all upside down.”A recent survey from the British Retail Consortium found that shoplifting alone cost UK retailers £400m last year, with one theft taking place every six seconds. Shoplifting has more than doubled since the pandemic, with 5.5 million incidents in 2025. In London, shoplifting soared by 50 per cent from 2024-2025, while a 2023 Home Office survey found almost half of retail and wholesale business premises had at least one incident of commercial crime during the last year.Pizarro says the normalisation of stealing has made him angry, as well as the stress his team goes through (Emma Lee)Pizarro has seen the change first hand. He now runs six restaurants in the UK, but his first was Jose’s – in 2011. “Back when people said, ‘are you crazy, why are opening here?’ I said it’s the only place I can pay a good rent. But everyone was lovely and I felt absolutely safe. I never felt problems there. But now, it’s not the same as before. People don’t feel as safe as before. “In the last few years you see a lot more homeless people and people who need help. If you have an addiction you’ll do anything for a bottle of wine. What we need to do is support them – and for the police to be strong.”After his recent break-in, a local police officer emailed Pizarro confirming “there have been more burglaries than usual” and saying he reached out to the new ward councillors for further support such as more CCTV for the streets, adding: “You can send us any still images yourself to see if we can recognise the perpetrators; as I am more than happy to do a statement and go to court if I can identify someone and support you and our local businesses. If they are homeless drug users; we deal with them often, so good chance we could assist.”Pizarro finds the police “very sweet” and believes most of the police do care – but he also feels they don’t do enough. “There’s not enough money and not enough people,” he says. “You need to make the police strong with [thieves]; they don’t have any fear about anything. The police and the government need to protect us.”He points out that apart from break-ins and thefts, many of his staff have had their phones stolen by thieves on bikes or motorbikes when coming home after work. “You finish work, after a hard day, you want to talk to your partner on the phone about your day – and what happens is some stupid kid steals your mobile. How do you feel after working very hard all day? It’s public disorder, young people intimidating people and it’s not right.”As a business owner dealing with recent tax increases, he finds it particularly unjust. “I pay my taxes and deserve to have a safe business. I’m happy to pay tax if I make money. I’m not happy to pay it now because it’s overpaid and we can’t afford to pay it. People say you have three busy restaurants you’re making a lot of money: I’m not. I’m doing fine, yes, but so many people opening a new business will be struggling.”A sign warning of phone theft on Oxford Street created by Currys and supported by the Met Police (Getty)He’s also angry at the government response, referencing a 2025 anti-phone-theft campaign in London, supported by Westminster council and the Met Police. Signs were placed along pavements in central London with warnings such as “Mind the Grab.”“I cannot believe it,” he says. “Why don’t you pay more to the police to stop people stealing? Imagine what someone coming from outside London feels when they see that? They need to feel protected - not scared.”He has also seen an increase in people leaving his restaurant without paying. Last week, a man left his restaurant without paying a £140 bill. Pizarro wanted to put a photo of the man’s face on Instagram, politely asking him to come back and pay his bill. But he was advised not to by his team.“They told me then the problem’s going to be mine,” he says, evidently frustrated with the system. “I don’t charge that back to my team. But another business would say to the waiters, this is your table, you have to pay. Can you imagine someone working for £150 to £200 a day, and having to pay that out of their wages? That’s happening in some businesses.”He hopes that things will start to change with more police action cracking down on shoplifting, thefts and break-ins, because the current climate is adding huge challenges for independent businesses – particularly small ones.“They’re making it impossible to run restaurants and small businesses,” he says. “It’s very tough now. I see it everywhere – it’s not just me saying that. In the past, I felt a lot safer, and I think people felt safer as well. The only thing we need to do is keep going.”