A BUSINESSMAN who spent £180,000 bringing an international pizza chain to Barnsley says he is absolutely appalled after it was broken into three times in less than a week.
Papa John’s Pizza, which opened opposite Morrisons just four months ago has now been raided four times - once just nine days after it opened in December, and then three attacks coming in quick succession last week.
“It’s very upsetting and frightening, I’m quite shocked, appalled,” said Abdul Kasana, owner of the franchise on Upper New Street.
“I’ve got stores in different parts of the country and I’ve never seen anything like this.
“I’ve invested more than £180,000 opening this store in Barnsley, but now we’re left having to invest another £3,000 on heavy and strong roller shutters because we can’t go on like this.
“My staff feel threatened. It’s really shocking. We need our people to feel safe.”
Abdul doesn’t understand why the thief has taken such a risk for so little reward - the takings of the shop are not kept on site as banking is done daily, and only a small float of change was kept in the tills overnight. Now, even those are removed.
“On the first night they broke the window into the main front door of the shop, broke the till, and got £150.
“We had the window boarded up, and on the second time, they broke through the boarding to get in again. This time they got £150 again, but dropped £30 of it on the floor so only got away with £120.
“On the third time, they smashed the large side window of the shop to get in, but they didn’t find any money. We’d taken everything out.
“But with all the damage they’ve caused it’s cost way more than £2,000 to us. They’ve taken a big risk, and caused us so many problems, just for a little bit of money.”
Abdul said he is frustrated that the police are not doing more to catch the culprits and to deter criminals.
“If people could actually see police patrols taking place, they might think again and say no, let’s not do this. But they don’t We don’t see the police.”
Abdul said he had been attracted to Barnsley because it presented a good business opportunity and he thought the town centre, and that side of town, was ‘on the up’.
At the first break in before Christmas, Abdul said about £2,500 was taken from the till and safe, and a computer was stolen along with the CCTV hard drive. That time thieves had got in by ripping off an extractor fan from an outside wall and climbing in through the hole.
The repair bill then was several thousand pounds.
A police spokesman said: “Just before 3am on Friday April 13, it was reported Papa John’s, Upper New Street, Barnsley had been broken into.
“A small quantity of cash and food items were taken during the incident. Anyone with information is asked to report it via 101 quoting incident number 358 of April 13.
“Sometime between 5.30 and 5.45am on Wednesday April 11, police received reports entry had been forced into Papa John’s, Upper New Street, Barnsley.
“A quantity of cash was taken and extensive damage was caused to the door and till.
”An investigation is currently ongoing and anyone with information is asked to report it via 101 quoting incident number 137 of April 11.
“At around 12.15am on Sunday April 15, it was reported Papa John’s, Upper New Street, Barnsley, had been broken into and damage had been caused to the window of the store.
“Anyone who may have been in the area at the time of the incident is asked to report information via 101 quoting incident number 467 of April 15.”
