Bank holiday cash taken in burglary

Staff at a Cleveleys cafe are gutted after raiders swiped their bumper bank holiday takings.
Barista in Cleveleys     PICTURE: GoogleBarista in Cleveleys     PICTURE: Google
Barista in Cleveleys PICTURE: Google

Burglars smashed their way into Barista in Victoria Road West and took almost £1,000 from the till.

The break-in happened between Friday night and Saturday morning.

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Manager Portia Wright, 28, said the first day of the Easter weekend had been the busiest of the year so far and the burglary had caused major problems for the business.

She said: “I got in on Saturday morning and I could see something was wrong.

“The back window was smashed and I could see the till had been moved.

“In the kitchen there was water everywhere because a fire extinguisher had been smashed.

“All the money was gone.

“It was our biggest day of the year so far.

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“Not only that but our change pot had been emptied, everything had been cleared out.

“In total it was nearly £1,000 that was taken.

“That’s a lot of money, particularly when you consider it’s been a bad winter for us with the weather. I was distraught.”

The till would normally have been emptied on Friday evening but the bank holiday had forced a change of plan.

“Normally I only work Monday to Friday and would have counted and sorted the takings before leaving,” explained Portia.

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“But because of the bank holiday I’d decided to go in on Saturday and left everything until then.”

And it wasn’t only at the tills the business was hit.

The night-time raiders also helped themselves to the contents of the fridges and freezers.

“They’ve gone in and put bacon, hash browns, coffee and a few other things in bin bags and made off with them.

“There was even bacon we’d cooked ready for a morning rush. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. We opened after the burglary, went to start cooking orders and found we couldn’t serve some people their breakfasts.

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“It’s not only what they’ve taken from the till and the change, it’s the cost of the stock too.”

Lancashire Police confirmed officers had been called to commercial premises in Victoria Road West following reports of a break-in between 5.30pm on Friday and 9am on Saturday.

A spokesman said: “A rear window was smashed to gain access to the property and money was taken from the till.”

Nobody had been arrested in connection with the incident and anyone with information should call 101.