Preston city centre venues smashed into as coronavirus bar and restaurant ban starts

A Preston bar owner is furious after his venue was broken into last night - when pubs and restaurants were told to shut in the fight against coronavirus.
One of the broken in venuesOne of the broken in venues
One of the broken in venues

Andy Forster, who is chairman of Preston Pub Watch, sad the raid had left staff without wages - and himself 'depressed'.

Mr Forster, who runs Lofty's cocktail bar, Glover's Court, off Fishergate, which also operates as the Curiosity Coffee Shop in the daytime, said his bar, together with the Iceburg restaurant, Miller Arcade, and another city centre venue, were all targeted.

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Mr Forster, who is also owner/managing director of the nearby Wellington Inn, revealed on Facebook this morning: "Well, day 1 week 1 of pubs bars and restaurants being closed and the scum of the earth can't help themselves."

Damage caused at IceburgDamage caused at Iceburg
Damage caused at Iceburg

He added: "Using bricks to smash their way in they broke into my venue Lofty's, as well as Iceburg and another venue in the City Centre. I knew venues would be vulnerable to this sort of thing but didn't expect it so soon.

"Well nobody was hurt at least, and three of them were caught after cutting themselves climbing through the window. Let's just hope the justice system decides to "isolate" them for a very long time."

Mr Forster, 38, who is married with three children and lives in Preston, told the Post the premises had not been open last night.

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"We decided against opening at all. We'd not opened that week.

"However, we do have an alcohol delivery service. When we knew we were going to be forced to close we thought we'd go to plan B.

"We were doing that last night and it was quite busy.

"It died down about 3am, the next thing police were ringing about 5am."

He said he arrived at the bar and "witnessed the mess".

"They've used red bricks, the same MO on the others as well

"They've thrown a brick through the window."

Mr Forster claimed there were four offenders - two men and two women - and that the police had arrested them.

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He said he was told one of the culprits was positioned at the top of the street as a lookout and "two smaller ones climbed in" through the broken window.

"They've cut themselves quite badly," he said.

He said the raiders ripped the till drawers out and passed them outside before making off as the alarm rang out.

But after the alarm had stopped sounding they returned, smashing into more tills before making off again.

"One left a shoe and sock - they left a trail of blood and credit card receipts," said Mr Forster.

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Mr Forster said: "It's just a kick in the teeth on top of everything else.

"Staff work a week in hand, so the full week they'd worked they were expecting to get paid this weekend.

"The previous week we were down.

"They (culprits) have literally emptied any cash and floats.

"We can't pay them.

"We're told we're going to get help with wages, which is nice, how they're going to do it - it's just a waiting game.

"It's just awful, it's depressing."

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Cafes, pubs and restaurants were ordered by the Government to close from Friday night - except for take-away food - to tackle coronavirus.

All the UK's nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres have also been told to close "as soon as they reasonably can".

Mr Johnson said the situation would be reviewed each month.