Horrified shoppers were forced to run to safety after a gang of knife-wielding moped raiders tried to break into a luxury shop in the West End.

The dramatic scenes unfolded in broad daylight outside a luxury watch shop on Regent Street on Tuesday morning.

Terrified onlookers said the group – armed with knives and hammers – tried to storm Watches of Switzerland, but members of the public managed to tackle at least one of the gang.

Police later arrived at the scene and detained one of them, who was taken to central London station.

The others are believed to have fled before officers arrived, leaving one of their bikes strewn across the road.

Police said the gang made off with some stolen items snatched from the store.

The incident happened at around 10.20am on Tuesday.

One eyewitness said she saw six men trying to break into the watch shop as staff ushered people in to safety.

“Staff on the doors of shops very swiftly got people in from the street,” she wrote. “Some of the public managed to wrestle the guys to the ground.”

Another woman who saw the drama unfolding from a nearby shop said one of the suspects was wielding a “massive knife”.

She said police turned up at the scene “seconds” later.

"A male has been arrested following a robbery in central London this morning," a police statement said.

"Police were called at 10:18AM Tuesday, 5 June to reports of a robbery at a jewellery store in Regent Street, W1.

"it was reported that a number of suspects on scooters armed with knives and hammers entered the store and stole several items of property.

"One male was arrested at the scene on suspicion of robbery. He has been taken to a central London police station.

Anyone with information or footage of the incident is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 2179/05JUN or Tweet @MetCC.