A Walkden cafe will now have to pay thousands for a new front after their door was booted “off its hinges” this week.
Hug in a Mug cafe claims that two young lads recklessly “kicked off” this Tuesday ( December 15) and repeatedly “booted the hell out” of their front door.
General manager, Gracie Copple said: “It took a couple of our staff to keep the door shut, and they were being very abusive to our customers and tried to to push their way in.
The vandalism has since left the staff at the Walkden cafe pretty shaken up, although this isn’t the first instance anti-social behaviour like this has occurred.
Gracie added: “I would say that since covid I think we’ve had a few more problems than normal.
“We’ve had a lot of problems with kids climbing on the roof and just damaging it really, so we get a lot of verbal abuse when we try and get them off.
“We’ve had threats of stabbing but we just try and get on with it really.”
FSB’s Cracking the Case report shows there has been a 49 per cent increase in crimes against small businesses in the last two years, compared to figures in 2017-2019.
The report also showed low levels of confidence in the Greater Manchester Police in response to small crimes against businesses, as fewer than 10 per cent of small businesses believe police in Greater Manchester take all business crimes seriously.
Gracie said: “It’s not very often that we phone the police to be honest because we know that there’s not much they can do.
“With the area itself, there is problems in certain parts of Walkden, -they’re just out to destroy stuff because there’s nothing else for them to do.”
In Gracie’s opinion: “All youth clubs are gone and the one that is here is only open a couple days a week and they have to book in and for these kind of children it’s not enough really.”
Despite this, the crime rates in other areas of Salford have plummeted.
The GMP recently reported that anti-social behaviour figures in Irlam and Cadishead have decreased by 59 per cent due to reformative programmes for young people.
PC James Byrne, a neighbourhood officer from GMP’s Salford district, said: “Over the last couple of years, we have been determined to help young people who may otherwise have not had access to activities and resources in their community.”
Recent Comments