THE owner of a Barnsley cinema spent Christmas night replacing the glass on a door after a man tried to break in.
Rob Younger, who owns Parkway Cinema on Eldon Street, was sitting at home on Christmas Day checking the CCTV on the building, when he noticed that one of the glass panels on the door had been cracked.
“I’d had a drink so I had to call someone to take me to the cinema at 11pm in the evening,” said Rob.
“The incident happened at 7.38pm. The CCTV shows a person appearing to knock on the door to see if anyone is in. The person then turns around and kicks the panel. The person walks away and returns four times and kicks the same panel but luckily didn’t get in.
“This ruined Christmas for me because I had to go and change the panel which I have learnt to do because this happens often and it’s cheaper than calling someone out to replace it.
“We don’t keep money in the building overnight and the doors into the cinema are locked so no one would ever get in any further than the foyer.”
On Christmas Day in 2018, the cinema had panels damaged and Rob believes that people feel they can take advantage over the festive season when shops are closed for Christmas.
Rob said: “We close for two days over Christmas and I think people try to take advantage of this because they think you won’t notice for two days.
“You may be at home but you can’t rest because you’re remotely checking that everything is OK when you should be off enjoying the festivities.
“I went and replaced the glass and then I was waking up in the night and checking the CCTV to make sure the culprit hadn’t returned. It’s a huge inconvenience but what can you do? Things like this happen all too often and it won’t be the last.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 and quote incident number 14/194/067/19.
