Thief steals £350 in Christmas tips from Carleton cafe

A thief stole £350 of tips from the Village Pantry cafe in Carleton.

The cafe, which shares its premises with a greengrocer in Blackpool Road, Carleton, was targeted around 7pm on Thursday night.

The thief broke into the building through the back door after closing time and raided both businesses, as well as the upstairs flat.

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All the float money from the till inside The Little Veg Shop was stolen, as well as £350 in tips from the cafe.

The opportunistic thief then made his way into the flat upstairs and stole a PlayStation 4 console.

Chris Bradley, owner of the Village Pantry cafe, said: "It's just so disappointing. We're a small family business, it's just myself and sometimes my kids help me in the cafe. We save up our tips all year long and then it's like a Christmas bonus.

"It's a nice way to treat the family and reward my son and daughter for all their help through the year. But it's all gone. All the hard work and all the generous tips from our fantastic customers, it's all been taken from us."

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The owner of The Little Veg Shop revealed the burglary on Facebook.

The post read: "We are very angry and sad in Carleton this morning. The Little Veg Shop, the Village Pantry and the flat upstairs where broken into.

"If you saw anything suspicious please let us know. We have one devastated little boy this morning."

Police have been approached for comment.

If you have any information, please contact police on 101, quoting incident log LC-20181129/1347