‘You just feel like you’re constantly getting kicked further down the road’
The Blarney Stone, on Bradshawgate in Bolton, is reported to have been broken into at the weekend(Image: The Blarney Stone)
The owners of an Irish pub which has only been open for six months said they are ‘heartbroken and frustrated’ after being broken into for a second time.
The Blarney Stone, on Bradshawgate in Bolton, first opened in February and has become a popular spot for its drink and live music offering. Run by the Golden family, the establishment took over the former Prince Billy’s venue and has been hailed as the only Irish pub in the borough.
On Sunday morning, manager Dave Golden said he discovered the venue had been broken into with a number of items allegedly stolen, including money, drinks and technical equipment, and claimed that there had also been damage caused to windows and doors inside the pub.
Dave said that CCTV footage showed one individual breaking into the bar after gaining access to the upstairs hotel, which is separately owned. He said the thief had stolen numerous bottles of spirits, as well as the electronic tills and cash from inside the safe.
“They’ve caused a considerable amount of damage to the windows and they’ve broken several doors,” Dave told the Manchester Evening News. “They’ve broken the cellar door and gone down there and raided our stock and taken loads of bottles of spirits.
The family-run pub has been open in Bradshawgate since February(Image: The Blarney Stone)
“They’ve also broken into the safe and the tills. Thankfully, we don’t keep much cash on site but they were basically the takings for the day. They also took the keys so we’ve had to change all of the locks.
“The main thing is the spirits that they took. We’re a pub and we have to have spirits on site – it’s not like we can start to chain them down now.”
Dave said the incident occurred between 7am and 8.30am on Sunday (August 3), and is actually the second time the pub has been raided since March.
“This is now the second time this year we’ve been broken into and it’s a similar story really,” he explained. “Last time, they caused a lot more damage after breaking into our fruit machine.”
Dave estimates that the cost of damage for the two incidents comes in at close to £6,000 – a hefty amount of money for any business to lose, but especially so for one just starting, he says.
The venue is said to be the only Irish pub in Bolton(Image: The Blarney Stone)
“It’s still early days for us and we’re still in the process of building the business, and we just feel like we keep getting knocked down before we’ve even got going,” Dave explained. “You just feel like you’re constantly getting kicked further down the road.”
Thankfully, The Blarney Stone – which takes its name from the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle in Cork – was still able to open on Sunday due to a rallying of the community in the Bradshawgate area.
Following the incident, Dave posted on the pub’s social media pages about the incident to report that ‘cash takings, iPads and a large amount of spirits were stolen’. He added: “We are trying to earn an honest living and it’s both heart-breaking and frustrating to be repeatedly knocked down.”
One customer responded to the post urging people to ‘please give them as much support as you can’, describing the pub’s staff as working their ‘socks off to give people a fantastic venue and are a godsend to local musicians’.
“We didn’t think we’d be able to operate on Sunday but then our joiner, Steve, actually came over straight away and got things sorted for us so we could open up,” Dave said. “We had to buy new stock and everything, but we managed to open and we now have increased security all over the venue.
The Blarney Stone has gained a big reputation with locals for its drink and live music since opening(Image: The Blarney Stone)
“It actually turned out to be one of our busiest days so far because people turned up to support us after seeing our post on social media. It was really lovely to see all the support from people.”
Dave says that since opening the Irish pub, he has been inundated with support from the local community and said he is refusing to let the recent incident knock him and the pub back from becoming a special part of the area for locals.
“We’re remaining optimistic,” Dave said. “We’ve been welcomed and we’ve been given a good chance here, so we’ve invested a lot of money into the area because we believe in it.
“It’s been nice to see the support and the credit that’s been given to us for what we’ve been doing. We’re very hands on – it’s not about just opening a venue and moving on, we’re the ones running it.
“Next month, we plan to extend our hours and will have more offerings at night for people. We’re not going to let this beat us. We know we have something special here, and people are really responding well to what we do, so we will just continue to do it.”
Greater Manchester Police told the M.E.N it has received reports of the incident and is investigating.