A NEWPORT cafe owner opened up as normal despite thieves taking cash, the till and a laptop during an early morning burglary.

The Ridgeway Cafe was burgled in the early hours on Monday morning between 12am and 2am, but that didn’t stop owner Bethan Barnfield from opening up as normal.

The suspected burglar took the till, equipment such as a laptop, tablet and Bluetooth speaker along with the café’s phone, before dumping the till in Oakfield Road.

But the 47-year-old has said she was determined to not let the burglary stop the business running.

“I am a small business owner and for people to think they can come and take what they want, it just makes me really angry.

“I employ eight other people, so I have to support them as well as myself.”

Ms Barnfield has also said that the burglary has a big impact and independent businesses such as her own, but has had huge support on social media from other cafes and restaurants in Newport.

“There are a lot of businesses like ours in Newport that are all doing their own thing.

“We have had lots of support over social media and several places have said they have been broken into in the past month as well.

“We have been very busy this week but we work hard and we have lovely, loyal customers."

The Ridgeway Cafe was the second of two Newport cafes affected by break-ins on Monday morning as The break-ins Café in the city centre was also targeted in the early hours.

Owner Phil Brett-Harris has said the business has been targeted four times in the past two weeks, and it is causing upset for him and his family.

Mr Brett-Harris believes the targeted burglaries may continue, and he estimates that the damage to the property has already risen above £1,000.

He said: “It is probably the same guy as someone tried to get into our café as well.

“He also targeted us a few days in a row last week and managed to get his hands on £130 cash and a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey.

“We have a £500 security door but he still seemed to manage to get in last week.

“It has been very stressful for us having to sort out all of the damage, and it has been my wife’s birthday but she’s just so stressed about everything.

"He's caused about £1,000 worth of damage for everything, and I'm still adding everything up."

Although Mr Brett-Harris has praised the police for helping, he still feels it’s a big impact for a small business owner.

“It is coming to work not knowing what to find every morning,” he said.

Gwent Police has asked anyone with information regarding the incident to call 101 quoting log number 39 27/06/16 for The Café at Ridgeway break-in and quote log number 10 27/06/16 for the Secret Garden break-in.