Traders in Basildon are getting fed up of constant break-ins.

Alan and Tara Real, who own Char-Latte coffee shop in East Walk, have suffered eight break-ins in their time running the business.

The pair were hit particularly hard when the business was ransacked two nights in a row in May 2016. Thieves smashed open the till and stole laptops and the keys to a motorbike, kept inside a cupboard.

Despite the adversity the business is facing, the owners have no plans to close and will remain open for the foreseeable future. 

The persistent thieves returned the following night in a bid to steal the bike, this time pulling apart a boarded up skylight on the roof.

Mrs Real said that a decrease in trade has also affected busines and said: “We have seen a dramatic fall in footfall – its been a tough ten years. People haven’t got the money now, it’s hard for everyone, and some people have the mentality that they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do to survive. If that means breaking to shops, then they’re prepared to do that.

“Some of the other shops and cafes in this area have been broken into loads of times too – just for charity boxes and things like that. There’s no policing around here anymore.”

Opposite Char-Latte, Evapo, a shop selling vaporisers, accessories and e-liquids, has also been subject to break-ins since they opened their doors last March.

“In May, thieves took a large stash of our vape devices, but luckily it was all returned in the end,” said the shop’s manager Lynda Taylan, 44, from Southend. “Our window was smashed in recently too. I was not expecting to have to deal with break-ins when we moved into the premises. We are doing all we can to keep security tight.”

Last month, St Luke’s Hospice in nearby Market Square was also broken into. David Emery, their head of retail development, said: “The office was trashed. A HP laptop was taken, which will have to be replaced, as well as a charity collecting box.”

**An earlier version of this story said the owners of Char-Latte coffee shop were shutting down, but we can clarify that this is not the case.