Londis takes bacon off shelves following thefts

Shoppers now have to ask for the product at the tills in Burnley because the problem became so extensive, the independent retailer revealed.

Police said that bacon has probably been targeted because of its rapidly growing price - and it can be sold by drug addicts for half the original cost.

"Heroin addicts steal it, along with items like coffee, because it is an easy commodity to sell and easy to conceal in a jacket," a spokesman at Burnley Police commented.

Independent Retail News found earlier in the summer that 20% of retailers have been the victim of violent crime in the past 12 months.