An upmarket food store told a shopper her handbag had been stolen because of the “nature of the Brighton area”.

Martine Self’s bag was snatched from her trolley as she browsed the aisles in Waitrose on Western Road earlier this month.

But when she complained to the supermarket, she was informed by email: “Due to the nature of the Brighton area, this unfortunately does happen.”

Ms Self said: “When I read that phrase I had a red flag reaction. I just thought it was a completely dismissive thing to say.”

Business leaders said the supermarket’s suggestion that the city was overrun with thieves was out of line – and yesterday a Waitrose spokesman apologised for the “poor choice of words”.

The comments came after Brighton's traders took ownership of the city’s streets earlier this year in a bid to stamp out shoplifting.

Nearly £18,000 of stock was recovered from thieves in just four months – with some shop owners chasing down the culprits themselves.

Since Sussex Police launched the crackdown, helped by street ambassadors paid for by the Brighton Business Improvement District, shoplifting rates have fallen sharply.

Lisa Perretta from the Business Crime Reduction Partnership said she was “very surprised” by the reply from Waitrose.

She said: “I don’t get where they’re coming from, to be honest.

“With the run-up to Christmas there will be more opportunists out there and theft rates are always likely to go up.

“But overall, thefts are going down thanks to police-led operations across the city. I don’t know why Waitrose would say that because bag thefts certainly do not happen in Brighton all the time – they’re actually quite rare here.”

A spokesman for Waitrose said the store would apologise to Ms Self as would the member of staff responsible for the reply.

He said: “We've been on Western Road in the town for nearly fifty years and know first-hand this is not the case, and we would like to apologise for any offence caused by the poor choice of words.”