QUAY CAFE BURGLED ‘AT WORST TIME’
A NEW ROSS cafe owner has described how burglars struck at the worst possible time for his business, stealing two days’ takings, a laptop, a tablet and his staff’s tips.
Emmett Ronan arrived to open his cafe Harvey’s Coffee House & Bistro on the quay in New Ross near Lidl, on Tuesday morning at around 8 a.m. only to find a coffee grinder which had been on the shelf, on the floor and the till cash drawer on a table in his office, empty.
Emmett said: ‘It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I would usually be in on Monday’s and would have gone to the bank but my son had an appointment.’
Around €1,200 was stolen, along with the staff’s tip jar money, a laptop and a tablet computer Emmett kept in the cafe for his children when they visited. They also took the Coca Cola and a bottle of whiskey the staff had given him as a present.
‘There was no noticeable sign of a break in. The four doors were locked and all the windows. Then I noticed the coffee grinder so I knew which window they jimmied open to get in.’
The thief entered via the adjoining street, Priory Lane, which has no CCTV cameras and is not lit by a street light.
‘It must have been a thin person (to get through the window). The guards believe he was wearing gloves.
‘He ripped out the black till box and took it into the office where he found the coin float which was well hidden. The girl’s tip jar was gone.’
The sensor for the cafe alarm did not detect the burglar due to where he entered the premises, but Emmett plans to beef up security at the cafe.
Emmett said fortunately no front of house damage was done and the cafe’s equipment escaped unscathed.
His laptop was found on the old courthouse grounds in New Ross but Emmett must wait to see if it is still in working order.
This is the first break-in to a business in New Ross for many months and gardaí ae warning business owners to have effective security systems as a precaution following the burglary at Harvey’s.
Emmett said he is not going to dwell on what happened.
‘If I were to dwell on it I wouldn’t have come in today. We got half a day’s trading on Tuesday after the garda forensic team left. I was as long waiting when thieves broke into Gala stealing €40,000 years ago.’
Emmett said after almost four years the business was finally breaking even.
‘We had a great end to 2016 and start to 2017 up until Tuesday. Business in December was up 20 per cent. We have built up a loyal local customer base and we hope to continue to do so.’