The Pavilion Restaurant boss in despair over break-ins at Bolton eaterie

A RESTAURANT owner is scared that he will have to shut up shop if nothing can be done to stop the “heartless thieves” who are targeting his business.

The Pavilion Restaurant, on Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge, has been the site of four break-ins in the space of as many weeks.

In separate incidents, from July 17 to August 12, thugs have broken into the premises, stealing around £8,000 worth of cash and bottles of wine in total - as well as causing hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage.

Restaurant owner and dad-of-one Abdul Hannan, from Rochdale, said: “If this keeps happening, I will have no choice but to shut up shop and close down completely.

“I have no idea who these people are, and I have no idea why they’re targeting me.

“I have a wife and child to support, and I also have 12 members of staff who rely on me to pay their wages. But there’s no way I can stay open at this rate if these guys continue breaking in and stealing things.

Mr Hannan, 54, has owned the Astley Bridge eaterie for 24 years, and says that nothing like this has ever happened before - not even a broken window.

He added: “It costs me around £500 just to replace one window - there is no way that I can go on like this.

“I’ve reported it to the police and I feel like it hasn’t been made a priority.”

The restaurant, which is renowned locally for its curry dishes, was targeted on July 17, then again four days later on July 21.

Ten days later, they returned once again on July 31 before the most recent raid which took place at around 2.30am last Wednesday, August 12.

CCTV footage from the attack on July 21 shows a pair of thugs breaking into the eaterie, before taking a significant amount of cash, and bagging up some bottles of wine, and leaving moments later.

Mr Hannan said: “We were only just starting to recover from the Covid pandemic after being shut for such a long time. We only reopened at the end of June. In a busy week we can make up to £12,000.

“It feels like nothing is going right at the moment. I just hope the police manage to find out who did this. I’m just waiting for the next one.”

Greater Manchester Police was unavailable for comment as The Bolton News went to press.

Share this post