Outrage as club raided for booze amid shutdown

Thieves break in just hours after venue locks up on advice of government

“Reckless” thugs have smashed their way into a Fife bowling club and stolen dozens of bottles of alcohol.

Members of Nethertown Bowling Club were stunned to find a significant amount of damage on Saturday morning, just hours after they announced their closure on Scottish Government advice.

Police are investigating the “appalling” incident, which saw doors wrenched open and split, areas of the interior destroyed and the bar raided.

In a post on the club’s Facebook page, a member commented: “Clearly we are all in this together!

“We were going to empty it on

Sunday.”

The post led to an outpouring of anger and disgust on social media, with many people branding the damage shocking.

The club had said on Friday night it would be closed until further notice but it looked forward to reopening when the coronavirus crisis was at an end.

Dunfermline Conservative councillor Gavin Ellis said he was struggling to comprehend the mentality of those responsible for the break-in.

“Clubs are struggling at the best of times, let alone in the environment we’re going through.

“It’s absolutely crazy and it’s reckless. It’s putting people’s safety and their lives at risk.

“What sort of a person would do that?” Describing it as a sad, sad situation, he said: “They are putting getting alcohol above people’s lives.

“I would have thought this sort of crisis would bring people back together but the UK is not a gentleman’s country any more.

“Any sense of community seems to have been eroded.”

Police said they were making inquiries into the incident.

A spokesperson said: “Police in Fife were called to a report of a break-in at to Nethertown Bowling Club, Broad

Street, Dunfermline. The incident occurred between 10.30pm on Friday March 20 and 9.30am on Saturday March 21 and a quantity of alcohol was stolen.

“Inquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number 1157 of March 21.”

Nethertown Bowling Club was targeted, interiors wrecked and the bar raided.