Hanahana has been able to open on Saturday night despite a break-in this morning
A break-in at Hanahana Japanese restaurant in Newcastle city centre(Image: Eddie Cheung)
The director of a popular Japanese restaurant in Newcastle city centre has condemned a “reckless” burglar who threw a bollard through a window before stealing bottles of booze. The restaurant’s CCTV footage shows a lone man entering the building at around 6.30am on Saturday morning.
The Tyne Theatre and Opera House, just 400 feet away, also suffered a break-in in the early hours of Saturday. It’s not known if the two incidents are linked.
Eddie Cheung, director of Hanahana, said that the man climbed into the teppan yaki restaurant twice. He estimates that a couple of hundreds pounds’ worth of alcohol was taken, while the smashed window could cost up to £1,000 to replace and fit.
Eddie told ChronicleLive: “He climbed in through the window, but there was glass at the bottom. The guy didn’t wear gloves, he just pushed the bottom with his hands.
“There are bloodstains on the till and he came in unmasked. We’ve had break-ins before, but normally they’re masked up.
“I think this guy was reckless, no gloves, no masks.”
Nevertheless, staff were shocked when arriving for the lunch service on Saturday afternoon. Police had cordoned off the restaurant but it has since been able to reopen, with the smashed window boarded up.
A break-in at Hanahana Japanese restaurant in Newcastle city centre(Image: Eddie Cheung)
Eddie continued: “It’s a Saturday, which is the busiest day of the week. The staff have come in to glass everywhere.
“We have a trolley in front of the window which has all the sauces on, which have smashed and dropped on the floor when they’ve chucked the bollard through.
“He took that many bottles he couldn’t carry them so some of them smashed in the restaurant. Staff had to clear up and obviously they were shocked but they’ve dealt with it well.”
Following the clean-up operation, Hanahana has been able to open for Saturday night’s dinner service with minimum disruption. Eddie finished: “We’ve taken deposits and we don’t want to disappoint our customers.
“We’re quite lucky it happened when we’re not serving. It came through the window and hit one of the chairs.
“If there was a customer sat there, it would have probably broken their nose.”
A break-in at Hanahana Japanese restaurant in Newcastle city centre(Image: Eddie Cheung)
ChronicleLive has approached Northumbria Police for comment.
AloJapan.com