A male has been threatened by a gang of five carrying a knife near a Romford shopping centre.

At 9am on Tuesday (February 13), a male was approached by a five-strong group in Brewery Walk, demanding his phone and stating they had knives.

"A flick knife was seen," Romford Town Safer Neighbourhood Team confirmed, posting to X, formerly Twitter.

The male refused and made off, police added, with the incident taking place near The Brewery shopping centre.

RELATED NEWS: Teens 'robbed' at Liberty Shopping Centre in Romford

It's not the first incident of people being threatened at or near shopping centres in the town in recent months.

On January 13, a police probe was launched after two teenage boys were allegedly robbed in The Liberty shopping centre.

A boy, 15, had attended an east London police station to report the incident.

He and a friend were approached by two boys who threatened them and stole his phone around 1pm that day, Met Police said.

In December, a group of eight males approached two teenage boys and demanded their mobile phones outside McDonald's in the Brewery.