Two break-ins are 'violating', says cafe owner

The owner of a cafe that was broken into twice in 15 days has described the experience as "violating".

Erin Zdrava runs Elie's Play Cafe in Crawley, West Sussex, which was burgled in the early hours of 14 December, then again on the evening of 29 December.

Both times the door was smashed and items stolen, including the till and food.

Ms Zdrava, who only opened the cafe a year ago, said the damage left by the burglars made her consider closing for good, but she decided to continue because of the community response.

"It's quite violating, our cafe is family-run, my mum works with us, we have local members of staff, we're trying to be very community-based," she said.

"We're trying to build a space that's welcoming to everyone, so to have these people come in and destroy it and take what they like, it's devastating.

"The damage and financial implications is a lot, especially for a small business. We've only been open a year."

Relatives have now started a GoFundMe page for the cafe which has so far raised over £1,000, something she said she found "just amazing to see the amount of support".

"To see people volunteering their help and services has been really uplifting," she said. "It's spurred us on.

"I'll be honest and say I was very close to giving up, but seeing how much of an impact it makes to the local community and how much people rely on it has given me that purpose to keep going, and not let these people win."

Sussex Police said they were investigating the break-ins, but no arrests had been made so far.

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