Andy Fairbanks, Group CEO of UK Protection, reflects on the recent viral footage of the attack on Fendi and asks why retailers still treat manned security as an afterthought rather than a frontline solution
Just last month, footage of a single security officer holding the door against a crowd of anti-fur protesters outside Fendi on New Bond Street went viral. Within hours, social media had crowned him a hero and was calling for him to get a pay rise. His own response was typically understated: “I was just doing my job.”
That sentence tells you almost everything that you should know, but little about what lies beneath.
What played out at Fendi was not shoplifting, and it was not an armed robbery. It was something the sector talks about far less: a coordinated attempt by an activist group to force entry into a flagship store, using noise, numbers, and physical pressure to overwhelm whoever stood in the way. The footage shows protesters chanting through megaphones and wrestling with the door as a lone officer in a suit holds the line, before colleagues arrive to help remove a protester who had broken through. It was dramatic, unsettling, and exactly the kind of incident we plan for.
It will not be the last. Luxury retail sits at the intersection of several pressure points right now. Wealth inequality is a live political issue. Animal rights and anti-fur campaigns have a long history of targeting fashion houses directly. Climate and anti-capitalist groups have shown they will use flagship stores as a stage for protest, knowing that a designer shopfront generates more attention than a high street chain. Add in international summits, trade gatherings, and other high-profile events that regularly bring protest movements to central London, and you have a retail environment where the threat is no longer hypothetical. It is real and predictable.
Yet too many luxury retailers still plan their security around theft, not unrest. CCTV, alarms, reinforced glass: all necessary, none of it any use when twenty people are pulling on your door at once. A camera does not hold a line. An alarm does not de-escalate a crowd. Only a trained person can do that, and it is precisely why the guard at Fendi became a story in the first place: people were genuinely surprised to see security working as intended.
Unlike much of the retail sector, where guards are told not to intervene, and can even be fired for doing so, this shows the value of guards with license and permission to act!
The guard in that footage was not improvising. He was applying the basics of hostile crowd management: holding a static position, controlling access, buying time for backup, and using appropriate force necessary to prevent entry rather than escalating the confrontation.
This looks instinctive on camera. It is not. It is trained behaviour, and it is exactly what separates a professional, SIA-licensed officer from “a man in a security jacket.” Anyone can stand by a door. Very few people can hold one under sustained pressure from a hostile crowd without losing control of the situation, or themselves.
This is the part of the conversation retailers consistently get wrong. Manned guarding is too often procured as a visible deterrent and nothing more, a uniform near the entrance to reassure customers and satisfy the insurer. But deterrence is only half the job. The other half is what happens in the ninety seconds after deterrence fails, when a protest turns physical, when a crowd decides to push rather than chant, when the door starts to give. That is the moment a flagship store finds out whether it bought meaningful security, or simply the appearance of it.
Brands operating in this environment need to think about protest risk with the same seriousness they apply to theft and robbery. That means officers trained specifically in hostile crowd and activist tactics, not just general retail security. It means clear protocols for access control, lockdown, and escalation which have been rehearsed, not just read about. It means real-time intelligence on planned demonstrations, campaign activity, and high-risk dates, so that stores are never caught unaware. And it means recognising that the person on the door is not a cost to be minimised, but the single most important control a retailer has once a situation turns physical.
But more than that, this also throws up the very real value of staff training, so that they too are prepared and aware of what to do, even when manned guards are in place. It’s something that we offer to our clients in the form of RAID training courses. These courses give individuals the skills they need to deal with high-stress situations, alongside the tools to keep themselves and their clients safe. Setting out what to do and how to act, as well as guidance on post-incident recovery is invaluable, and increasingly popular with luxury retailers who get its true worth.
It is also worth saying plainly: the officer at Fendi absolutely deserves the praise and recognition he received online. But the public reaction exposes something else – just how low the bar has been set. We should not be surprised when manned security does its job well. We should expect it, and we should resource it accordingly.
As the heatwave and summer months continue, wealthy customers are returning to the UK’s flagship stores in growing numbers. At the same time high-profile events, openings and gatherings, which can act as a catalyst for protests or opportunistic crime, are on the rise.
Set against this background, retailers who treat manned guarding as a discretionary line item are not only risking their reputation but the safety of their staff and their customers – all in the hope that they won’t be caught in the crossfire.
But what if they’re not so lucky? What if they’re the target or even just part of the collateral damage? It takes seconds for spray paint to ruin thousands of pounds worth of clothing, and then there’s the costs of damage to the store itself.
Handled poorly, the next incident of this nature could go viral for all the wrong reasons, carrying the risk of reputational damage, even human harm. Surely that risk alone outweighs any savings that might be made by skimping on the security budget.
The lesson from Fendi is not “isn’t it nice when security works.” It is “this is what security is for.” Retailers who understand that distinction, and invest accordingly, will be the ones still standing the next time a crowd decides to test the door.
www.ukprotectionltd.co.uk / 0844 384 3444 / info@ukprotectionltd.co.uk
UK Protection is the UK’s leading provider of premium manned guarding to the luxury and retail sector, specialising in intelligent, preventative security. Its trained SIA-licensed security officers provide visible deterrence, real-time situational awareness and the ability to respond immediately should an incident occur. Working for brands including Mappin & Webb, Rolex, Watches of Switzerland, Hublot, and Tag Heuer, UK Protection supports many prestigious clients in the UK including global luxury retailers and flagship stores.
For guidance and advice call 0844 384 3444 or visit https://ukprotectionltd.co.uk/
