Lancing cafe owner '˜disheartened' after vandals break window

The window at the cafe was broken last Saturday

Andy Crook, 51, who has run Queensway Cafe in Queensway with his wife Denise for the last four and a half years, discovered their window had been broken early on Sunday, February 4.

He said: “It’s our livelihood at the end of the day.

“When you turn up and see your window broken, it’s disheartening.”

Mr Crook said the village was suffering with a wider problem of vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Large groups of young people would congregate in the Queensway area and ‘intimidate’ customers, he said.

“The whole town is feeling like, what do we do next? Nearly every shop is having trouble,” he said.

“They are trying to run a business, but we’ve got kids running riot.”

He said he felt police were not doing enough to tackle the issue.

“You never see the police in Lancing. I know they are tight on the budgets, but people want to sleep at night,” he said.

“The kids know that nothing is going to happen, there is no deterrent.”

Police confirmed they attended the cafe and boarded up the window after receiving reports that it had been broken.

No one witnessed it being smashed, a police spokesman said, asking anyone with information was asked to contact police by calling 101 and quoting serial 1161 of 03/02.

Concerns about police visibility, as well as anti-social behaviour in Lancing, will be raised at a public meeting in Worthing on Thursday (February 15).

The joint overview and scrutiny committee, who will meet at 6.30pm in the Gordon Room of Worthing Town Hall, will question chief inspector Miles Ockwell on operational issues.

Councillor Stephen Chipp said he hoped the Inspector would ‘shed some light on some of the major concerns that councillors and members of the public have on this issue’.