Two Newbury town centre businesses Cow & Cask and Kept Assets Ltd in Inch’s Yard ransacked with thieves stealing Christmas hamper, stamps and around £11

Two small businesses in Newbury town centre have had their premises ransacked overnight with the thieves only taking off with around £11, some stamps and a Christmas hamper.

The Cow & Cask micro pub and the will writing and estate planning firm Kept Assets Ltd, which are next door to each other in Inch’s Yard, were both broken into by criminals last night.

Owners of both businesses came into work this morning to discover windows smashed and their properties a complete mess, with the unknown perpetrators plundering little in terms of value.

Kept Assets director Richard Hayes said: “I’m just angry, just absolutely furious about it. It’s absolutely pointless.

“I presume they’re after cash for drugs or whatever. I don’t care about that, but I’m just furious.”

Around £11 was stolen from Kept Assets along with a couple of stamps, so Mr Hayes is more frustrated about the time and money it will take to clear up the mess the thieves left behind.

A luxury Christmas hamper filled with alcohol, chocolate and confectionary, that was valued at around £120, was stolen from Cow & Cask.

It was due to be raffled off with the proceeds going to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire.

A small amount of money from one of the Cow & Cask’s clients was also taken in the break-in.

Local business owners have come together to create a new Christmas hamper so that money from the raffle can still go to charity.

Warwick Heskins of The Catherine Wheel pub and Charles Robinson of estate agents Jones Robinson have already donated some new items.

Mr Hayes was also critical of the police’s response to the incident.

He said: “The police just could not give a flying one. Here’s a number, off you go. They won’t even come out. It’s pathetic.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “I can confirm we’ve had reports of burglaries at Cow & Cask and Kept Assets, Inch’s Yard, Newbury.

“Both burglaries were reported to us this morning at around 9.15am, and were reported to have happened overnight with offenders no longer present.

“We would appeal to anybody who has any information about either burglary, which are being treated as linked, to contact Thames Valley Police on 101, quoting reference 43240598402 in regards to the Cow & Cask incident and 43240598396 in regards to the Kept Assets incident.

“Similarly, if anybody was driving in the area and may have dash-cam that could assist the investigation, we would urge them to get in touch with us.

“Both incidents are under investigation with our Assessment & Investigation Unit.”