Loaf of bread prompts bomb scare at London restaurant

An Italian restaurant in east London was descended on by police yesterday when a loaf of bread inside a brown paper bag was mistaken for a bomb.

Gina opened this morning, took in the bread as normal, then was descended on by 6 police officers👮‍♀️in a van with flashing lights 🚓 . I’ve asked the Bread supplier to no longer shorten our name 😬🥖 💣💥 don’t worry #wanstead there’s no bomb & we open at 12:15 as normal! pic.twitter.com/PMyaHVN5U0

— Bombetta London (@bombettaLondon) June 12, 2018

Bombetta London, based in Wanstead, was opened up as usual yesterday (12 June) by the restaurant cleaner called Gina, who brought in the bread delivery left outside the shop.

However, shortly afterwards, six police officers entered the premises following reports of a “suspicious package”.

It later transpired that the bread supplier had shortened Bombetta’s name to ‘Bomb’ and had written it on the outside of the paper bag.

Restaurant manager, Jose Alonso, told The Evening Standard: “One of our suppliers delivers bread to us on a daily basis in a large brown paper bag, and he unwittingly shortened our name to bomb.

“A member of the public saw the bag outside our door with the word bomb on it and called the police.

“It’s gratifying that members of the public are so alert. But it was a completely innocent mistake.

“The police saw the funny side of it. It’s just one of those funny things”.

…and this is Jose, our #BreadDisposal expert! pic.twitter.com/ZvgDXTuDK3

— Jose Alonso (@TheChefsDeli3) June 12, 2018

Alonso confirmed that he had spoken to the bread supplier to ensure that this does not happen again.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that officers were called to the restaurant at 8:11am on Tuesday and the item was “found not to be suspicious”.