Vandals attack town restaurant
LATE-NIGHT licensing has been blamed for a bizarre and malicious attack on a Dunmow restaurant. The Starr restaurant, in Market Place, was targeted by vandals between 1am and 6am on Tuesday. A large quantity of white paint was thrown against the front of
LATE-NIGHT licensing has been blamed for a bizarre and malicious attack on a Dunmow restaurant.
The Starr restaurant, in Market Place, was targeted by vandals between 1am and 6am on Tuesday.
A large quantity of white paint was thrown against the front of the building, marking the doors, windows, walls and window boxes.
The restaurant, where Jamie Oliver once worked, is managed by Terry George, who was horrified to arrive at work to discover his restaurant had been defaced.
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Mr George said: "Cheap white emulsion had been thrown all over the front of the building; the damage will cost between £1200 and £1500 to repair.
"They didn't gain entry, but the place looks a bloody mess."
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Mr George believes vandalism and petty crime are on the increase in Dunmow, and that the new late-night licensing laws are to blame.
He said: "This is the seventh time we've been hit by vandals in as many months. In the past it's been a couple of broken windows, a few hundred pounds' damage, but not as much as this."
Uttlesford District Cllr Mark Gayler recognised there had been several incidents of petty crime in the town but was not sure that it was due to late-night licensing.
"If there is a definite link between later opening hours and an increase in crime, then revoking late night licenses is something we'd have to look at," he said.
