Bar suffers second burglary in 'challenging month'

A bar owner said that a second burglary in less than four weeks had been potentially "crippling" in a "really tough month".

Dick's Bar on Bedford Street in Norwich had £300 of staff tips stolen at about 07:15 GMT on Sunday.

The first break-in happened on 27 December, with the incidents resulting in over £1,000 worth of damage to the Grade II-listed building.

Co-owner Tom Ginn described it as "frustrating".

He said having to repair the damage and replace two broken doors was "horrible".

"It's a listed building, so we tried to keep many of the nice old doors," Mr Ginn said.

"The reality of it is they got in too easily the first time, so we made it harder for them the second time.

"We took away the lovely wooden doors and replaced them with thick fire doors and they still managed to find a way in."

Mr Ginn said January was particularly difficult for the hospitality industry.

"It's already a challenging month in what will be a challenging year for hospitality and we've started the year with replacing two fire exits and having to put up CCTV," he said.

"It just makes things harder. Anything like this could be crippling."

Despite this, Mr Ginn said he was "lucky" to be in a "really resilient industry".

"We'll bounce back," he said.

Norfolk Police said investigations into the burglaries were ongoing, and anyone with relevant information should contact them.

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