HOODED tops and baseball caps have been banned from the walkways and escalators of Britain’s largest shopping centre, Bluewater in Kent.

Customers are also to be given a warning that swearing is unacceptable and could lead to ejection — all part of a crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Shoppers have complained that gangs of youths prowl the stores, intimidating visitors and concealing their identities beneath the fashionable clothing. Now the management of the 154,000 sq m site, which attracts about 27 million visitors a year, has acted to preserve its family-friendly reputation.

Some retailers, including Hargreaves Sports, are considering taking the offending items off the shelves to prevent the potential embarrassment of customers being thrown out for wearing clothes bought at Bluewater.

Hooded tops, or “hoodies”, became popular in the mid- 1990s after being championed by music stars such as the rapper Eminem and the boy band Blazing Squad. They have played important roles in fashion history. The barbarians wore them as they infiltrated the Roman Empire and, in the 12th century, hoods were an essential item for prostitutes. Now buyers say hooded tops by labels such as adidas, Stüssy and Hooch are selling strongly once again.

Bluewater’s management emphasises that it will be implementing the policy sensitively. “It will be up to staff to decide if people have to remove their caps or hoods or be asked to leave the premises. It is about groups of people that make others feel threatened, not ordinary shoppers,” a spokeswoman said. People wearing headgear for religious reasons were not affected, she added.

Patricia Watling, and her friend Jean Aylmer, two pensioners shopping at Bluewater yesterday, could understand why action was needed on hooded tops, but not baseball caps. Mrs Watling said: “We only mind them having hooded tops. They can be threatening. Not to us, mind — if one of them came up to me, I’d whack them with my handbag.”

Mrs Aylmer said: “I don’t mind the baseball caps. Although I’d ban anyone over the age of 35 from wearing them.”

Jimmy Ojo, 28, and in a hooded top yesterday, called the ban ridiculous because it conferred suspicion on innocent people. “I don’t see any reason for it. I understand why people like to see others’ faces: because it gives them more comfort. But a blanket ban seems paranoid.” He was wearing his hood because his hair was a mess, he said.

Dylan Jones, Editor of GQ, has called men in hooded tops thugs, saying people should cross the road to avoid them. “They’re disguising themselves so we can’t identify them when they try to steal our watches,” he wrote recently.

At least two antisocial behaviour orders have been given in the past year banning individuals from wearing hooded tops or baseball caps in public.

Other shopping centres said they did not ban certain types of clothing. Troublemakers were dealt with on an individual basis. Rob Dempsey, for Brent Cross shopping centre in North London, said: “We have police that work on site with us and if there is ever any problem with individuals then they obviously are banned.”

The Metro Centre in Gateshead said: “We don’t have any policies such as that [at Bluewater] . . . The only thing that we would say is we want customers to have tops on.”

Mike Pearse, the general manager at Lakeside in Essex, said: “We welcome people of all ages irrespective of their choice of personal style. At the same time the maintenance of a safe shopping environment is our number one priority. A security team of more than 50 personnel work alongside uniformed Thurrock police officers.”

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