Launching fireworks, ransacking businesses and throwing live pigeons into shops – this is the middle-class suburb under siege by a gang of tearaway children.
Shops and eateries in Eltham, south-east London, claim the so-called ‘pigeon boys’ have been wreaking havoc for several months, but say they are powerless to stop them.
It marks a tragic decline for the former Kent suburb where in recent years, savvy millennials have flocked to for cheaper first properties with an easy commute into central London.
Eltham has long tried to shake its image, having lived under the shadow of the 1993 racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, which rocked the community and tarnished its reputation for many years.
But an influx of young families and professionals has seen parts of Eltham experience gentrification, where the middle-class staples of Marks & Spencer, Pizza Express and local cafés and delis have sprung up.
However, over the last few months, businesses on the High Street and an adjourning pedestrianised area, Passey Place, have fallen victim to a wave of anti-social behaviour which has left locals and shop owners at breaking point.
Shockingly, the alleged suspects are thought to be aged around 10 to 12, according to locals.
Shoppers and business owners alike say ‘the High Street has never been like this’ as they grow increasingly concerned about the children as well as masked teenagers racing up and down on e-scooters and e-bikes.
They also claimed street drinkers are offering young children drugs in return for shoplifting for them.
The Subway on Eltham High Street has fallen victim to anti-social behaviour from young boys
Two boys who have caused trouble in recent months are pictured at the Subway in November
Locals and business owners say Eltham High Street (pictured) has become unbearable because of young yobs
It marks a tragic decline for the former Kent suburb where in recent years, savvy millennials have flocked to
One worker in the high street said: ‘They are little s**ts! They’re called the pigeon boys because they’ve thrown live pigeons into shops.
‘They come into shops and pop balloons inside. They’ve flicked matches at people.
‘They’ve even thrown fireworks! They are supposed to be banned from Eltham. It’s been awful.
‘The police safer neighbourhood team have been good but they’ve got to catch them.’
Staff say shops have been provided with walkie talkies as part of a general project by the council and they use them to warn other businesses of any trouble in the area.
Another shopkeeper who did not want to be named, said: ‘We were all pests as kids but these are Premier League. They’re absolute terrors.
‘They are just looking for trouble. They target people who are on their own or weaker.
‘There’s only two of them. It is beggars belief.’
A Subway franchise owner said the High Street ‘has become unbearable in the evenings’.
‘Groups of kids keep coming into my store – they throw cans of drink, set off firecrackers, steal items, and shout abuse, including racial comments,’ he claimed in an Eltham Facebook group.
Sharing a CCTV image of two boys in his Subway, he added: ‘Every evening feels more dangerous. It’s getting impossible to work safely, and it’s affecting me mentally and emotionally.
‘If this continues, I’m afraid that many of us on the High Street will struggle to keep our businesses open. We pay taxes, we work hard, and yet we feel completely unprotected.
‘I’m reaching out to the community and local authorities – we need urgent help and real action before something worse happens.’
One newsagent, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It’s shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
‘There’s six or seven of them. We can’t manage them. They always try to take the vapes.
‘They divert us when our backs are turned and take stuff. It’s mostly every two or three days in a week.
‘They are about 10 years old. There’s two boys they come in every evening. I think they’re on drugs. When they come in the smell is so bad.
‘The police and council have been here many times.’
One businessman said: ‘In October, they were throwing pumpkins at the buses going down the high street. It’s dangerous.
Iwona Golebiewska, 45, said: ‘We need to draw the line as this behaviour is unacceptable.’
Police community support officers are seen patrolling the High Street to crackdown on anti-social behaviour
Shop owners claim the feral children wreak havoc, including trying to steal vapes
A police car is spotted parking outside Boots on Eltham High Street, where locals have complained of anti-social behaviour
‘They have caused Subway a lot of aggro going in there and whatever.
‘There are some other guys, they are much older, they also hang around with them. They are always drinking up the alley.
‘The police have tried to move them and they have sort of disappeared gradually.
‘The High Street has got worse. There’s a lot of shoplifting. And there’s teenagers speeding up the road on electric bikes and scooters with their faces covered with masks.
‘This High Street has never been like this.’
Green Grocer Jason White, 25, said: ‘It’s got a lot worse on the high street. You don’t see any police – it’s very rare.’
He added: ‘They don’t bother us but I know a lot of other shops and places have had grief from them.
‘But the shoplifting is really bad – but that’s adults doing that.
‘The High Street has got worse. A few years back some kids got on the roof of the shops across the road and were pelting us with eggs!
‘You don’t see the police up here much walking around.’
Another businessperson, who did not want to be named, said: ‘They’ve come in and popped balloons in the store.
‘One of them asked for a drink for free or he would steal something.
Green grocers Jason White, 25, said: ‘It’s got a lot worse on the high street.’
‘It has calmed down a bit lately, though.
‘We threatened them with the police.’
One store manager, who did not want to be identified, said the bad behaviour began two to three months ago.
He said they had stolen crisps and cookies from his store.
He said: ‘I think they were high on drugs, that’s the reason. The other day when I was opening the store he just came and threw a can of Red Bull at me.
He claimed: ‘There are street drinkers who are provoking the kids to go and steal from TK Maxx and they get drugs in return.
‘If the street drinkers got banned, these boys wouldn’t come.’
He added: ‘On the first day they took my keys as I was opening up. They steal everything.
‘Another time in the doorway one threw a firecracker at my face – high basically. I closed the door in time.
‘The next day he came in and said sorry – because I think social services got involved.
Pictured is the Subway on Eltham High Street which is among those being targeted by young children
Shops and eateries in Eltham, south-east London, claim the so-called ‘pigeon boys’ have been wreaking havoc for several months
‘We are working hard and paying our taxes and these people are causing trouble. Something should be done.
‘There are enforcement officers but not in this area – they should do more patrolling in this area.’
Shopper Deon Jenkins, 35, said: ‘They’re always hanging around. But they just don’t care.’
Another shopper Iwona Golebiewska, 45, a mother of two, said: ‘It is disturbing. I would expect them to be in school.
‘Something needs to be done or it creates an open door and children think ‘we can mess around’.
‘When I was a kid I respect adults. Eltham was a nice quiet place, respectable. We want to keep it this way.
‘We need to draw the line as this behaviour is unacceptable.’
Michelle, 63, said: ‘There’s some lovely businesses up here trying to make a living and these kids think they can do what the want.
‘The police don’t do anything. They can’t touch them anymore. They should go to borstal for a year.
‘It’s not fair on anyone and it’s not fair on these people trying to run businesses. My kids wouldn’t dream of doing that.’
The Met Police was approached for comment.
