Thieves smash into pub and steal OAP collection bottle

The Captains Bar on South College Street was raided after staff closed up for the night.

After stealing money from the till, the thieves broke off a security chain holding the collection bottle to the bar then smashed it using a decorative wooden club which was nailed to the bar.

The three-litre bottle is believed to have had about 300 in it, with money added during a sweepstake every week and regulars often dropping in any spare change.

Cash from the collection is used to throw local pensioners a Christmas lunch at the pub every year, and customers at the bar were said to have been "sickened" by the theft.

The robbers also smashed the till in order to get at the night's takings, believed to have been about 2,000. They even took a 20 football ticket which was to be gifted to a local youngster.

Licensee Nicola Murray said it was the first time the bar had been robbed in the four years she had been there and the biggest shock was the bottle theft.

"We closed up as usual on Saturday night and when we went in on Sunday morning we could see we had been robbed," she said. "Whoever did this has bent back one of the bars over the bathroom window and then smashed it in completely before climbing into the gents toilets and coming through to the bar.

"They've raided the till, which isn't a huge concern because that and the damage to the bar is covered by insurance, but they have also taken our pensioners' bottle. It was secured to the bar by a metal chain and they've broken that in two.

"They've also ripped off a wooden shillelagh (a traditional Irish club] that was nailed to the bar and we think they must have used that to smash the jar.

"It's really sickening to be honest, as this is something that our customers all contribute to and there was a few hundred pounds in it at least."

Mrs Murray said she believed they were only the latest victims of crime in the area, saying "every pub in the Southside has been hit over the last year".

Local police recently told Southside Community Council that they had been investigating a number of break-ins to local bars in recent months.

Hilary McDowell, chair of the community council, said: "We have been told of a number of bars being robbed in the area recently by our community police officer, and obviously people in the local community will be very concerned about this.

"It is not something that has really been a problem in the area before and it is concerning that there seem to be so many incidents recently."