British Popstar Reveals Sainsbury’s Ban Over Shoplifting After Glastonbury Gig

Brit popstar PinkPantheress has revealed she was once banned from all Sainsbury’s stores across the UK for shoplifting. 

The singer-songwriter, 24 – whose real name Victoria Beverley Walker – wowed crowds at Glastonbury just last month. 

But while promoting her new single Illegal, PinkPantheress revealed that she received a blanket ban from entering any Sainsbury’s shops as a youngster. 

Speaking to GQ, she spoke about how her friend once stole a Drumstick lollipop from a Sainsbury’s store and both herself and her friend were banned as a result.

The star said she did not steal anything but was banned anyway, and thought that a whole-country ban for just taking a Drumstick was ‘a bit much’. 

‘My friend stole a Drumstick from Sainsbury’s, but that actually is illegal,’ PinkPantheress said.

Brit popstar PinkPantheress has revealed she was once banned from all Sainsbury’s stores across the UK for shoplifting (Seen at Glastonbury last month)

The singer-songwriter, 24 – whose real name Victoria Beverley Walker – wowed crowds at Glastonbury just last month (Seen in June)

‘But I remember thinking to myself like – and we got banned – and we really went through it. I got banned, but I didn’t steal anything.

‘I remember thinking like given our age at the time, one Drumstick resulting in a ban, it’s a bit much. Because we were banned from all Sainsbury’s across the country.’

It comes after PinkPantheress’s intimate Glastonbury gig was cancelled and she was moved to a larger stage.

PinkPantheress was scheduled to play a 30 minute slot on the Levels stage in Silver Hayes at 11pm on the Thursday.

But a major change in the set schedule saw Roza Terenzi instead play 10.30pm to midnight, in between a Confidence Man DJ set and Marie Davidson.

Fans of PinkPantheress were not left disappointed however, as she instead graced the Woodies Stage at 7.30pm on Friday.

Taking to Reddit, eagled-eyed fans welcomed the decision at the time as they believed the star was too popular for the original schedule as they said it would have been ‘rammed’. 

They wrote: ‘Was going to be dangerously rammed,’; ‘Could have seen that coming, why even book it then,’;

But while promoting her new single Illegal, PinkPantheress revealed that she received a blanket ban from entering any Sainsbury’s shops as a youngster (stock image)

Speaking to GQ , she spoke about how her friend once stole a Drumstick lollipop from a Sainsbury’s store and both herself and her friend were banned as a result (Seen in June)

The star said she did not steal anything but was banned anyway, and thought that a whole-country ban for just taking a Drumstick was ‘a bit much’ (Seen in 2024)

‘Probably for the best, having anything remotely popular on the stage (especially on Thursday) is always a recipe for disaster,’;

‘Yeah everyone knew it would be carnage from the moment it was announced.’

A spokesman for Glastonbury told the Sun: ‘This change was absolutely not as a result of overcrowding fears, the artist was simply no longer able to make this performance. 

‘But she is still playing her Woodsies set.’

Pink Pantheress found fame on TikTok and has had a top 10 in the UK singles and album charts, respectively, as well as being nominated for three Brit Awards.

She is the daughter of a statistics professor and a Kenyan-born civil servant, and was born in Bath in 2001, where her father Stephen worked in the maths department at the city’s university. One well-connected diplomat described the singer as ‘posh’ in 2022.

Along with her mother Elza and older brother Christopher, the family moved to Kent in 2010, where home was a £500,000 townhouse in Canterbury.

It comes after PinkPantheress’s intimate Glastonbury gig was cancelled and she was moved to a larger stage (Seen in 2022)

Pink Pantheress found fame on TikTok and has had a top 10 in the UK singles and album charts, respectively, as well as being nominated for three Brit Awards (Seen in 2024)

She attended the selective and high-achieving Barton Court Grammar School, during which time she says she stacked shelves at the Co-op supermarket.

Her showbusiness career began at the age of 12, when she danced in a school production of Bugsy Malone, but music was her passion and she began to write songs in her bedroom and plan her unorthodox approach to her career. 

Her stage name was coined after watching the ITV quiz show The Chase, where host Bradley Walsh asked a contestant what a female panther was called.

She said the answer – pantheress – was to be her name, but after realising there was already a person using that online, she put ‘pink’ before it.