Award winning restaurant’s trophy stolen during break-in

Detectives have launched an investigation after a trophy, cash and alcohol was stolen from an award-winning Indian restaurant.

Taj Barming, in Tonbridge Road, was targeted by a thief between 5.30am on Sunday and 6.30am on Monday.

Spirits and cash are believed to have been taken while the restaurant’s Regional Restaurant of the Year trophy was also stolen.

It comes as Kiron Haque’s restaurant continues to suffer, after a tennis-court sized sinkhole opened up outside in May, closing the road.

He estimates it will cost him £200,000 in lost revenue.

Mr Haque phoned the police on Monday after noticing a few bottles of expensive champagne had been pinched.

He said: “There was mud everywhere. I went to the bar to drop the keys off and everything seemed a little bit messy. I looked on the other side and there were things there that shouldn’t have been. I looked at the bottles and there were gaps. He had taken all the expensive spirits and the champagnes.”

Mr Haque’s restaurant had been the recipient of the Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Award for best restaurant in Kent.

However, the mystery visitor, captured on the restaurant’s CCTV, made off with that too. Mr Haque added: “The award has only been here two weeks. It just seems to be never ending at this place.

“There were finger prints everywhere but the police didn’t come out until after we had to open the restaurant again and everybody else’s finger prints were there.”

Anyone with information should call Kent Police on 01622 604100 quoting YY/37442/18, or Kent Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. Kent is the worst area in the South East for young people tuning in to BBC programmes without a TV licence.

New figures released by TV Licensing, a branch of the BBC, revealed 694 viewers between the ages of 18 and 25 were caught watching live TV or BBC iPlayer without a licence in the past year in the county.

The worst offending town was Maidstone, where 63 people were caught, followed by Rochester and Ashford with 53 each, Chatham with 45, and Gillingham with 44.

Coming in lower were Canterbury and Dartford at 42 each, and Dover with 40 watching the box without a licence.

The statistics are a stark comparison to Oxfordshire where only 43 were caught in the same period.