Common Bar & Kitchen eatery is latest business in Blackpool town centre to be targeted after spate of burglaries

Intruders forced their way into the Common Bar & Kitchen, on Edward Street, at some point between late on Tuesday night (October 3) and the early hours of Wednesday , and stole a number of items before making their escape.

The burglars caused enough damage to the premises to force the business to close for the rest of the day.

It follows a spate of breaks-ins and attempted burglaries at town centre businesses within a matter of weeks.

Part of the neighbouring Abingdon Street Market but run from a neighbouring premises, the Common Bar serves South American-style food and opens from Tuesdays to Saturdays - from 4pm until 10pm (Tuesdays to Thursdays), until 11pm on Fridays and from 12pm to midnight on Saturdays.

AJ Hayhurst, one of the managers in an eight-strong team of employees, said today (Thursday October 5): “Thankfully we are able to open at 4pm as usual today after having to close all of yesterday.

"Obviously it wasn’t pleasant to have been broken into but we’re back up and running.

"There was damage to the back door and it did cause a lot of disruption here.”

The Common Bar put a message on its Facebook page yesterday after staff came in to discover the break in.

They said: “For two weeks straight the town has had an influx of burglaries targeting small independent businesses.

“ Last night we were broken into and are therefore unable to open today.

"We’re still waiting for @lancspolice @blackpool.police to arrive and take action.

“Unfortunately they have tried our other venues over the past few weeks, and have successfully broken into multiple other businesses in our surrounding area.”

Some of the other businesses targeted recently have been critical of the lack of response from Blackpool Police.

However, AJ said: “The police have been round to collect evidence and were here for a while.”

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “We fully understand the very real impact burglaries can have on hardworking business owners and work with partners to proactively prevent crime.

“We take reports of burglary extremely seriously and regularly review crime patterns to ensure we have the right resources in the right places at the right times. “We have increased patrols in the area and will continue to monitor the situation.”