Farnsfield business, The Studio hair salon suffers break in weeks after Newark shop targetted

An independent business was the target of a break in which left the owner shocked but thankful to the community.

The Studio hair salon on Main Street, Farnsfield was broken into in the early hours of Monday morning (January 23).

Business owner, Tiffany Wilson lives not far from the salon and came into work to find broken glass and the front door of the shop smashed in after she had heard the alarm set off and received messages from residents to tell her what had happened.

She said: "I'm a resident and I grew up here. It's a good community, things like this don't really happen in Farnsfield and I never expected something like this to happen to me.

"I came straight away and one of the residents actually saw what happened. There were two of them, they had bashed my door down with their feet, broke in, took the tills and left.

"The break in happened at 5.28am, I got a call at 5.30am and I arrived at 5.34am. So the whole thing happened in less than six minutes.

"I don't know if they were startled by the alarm or because a whole pane of glass broke which would have caused quite a racket, but they literally came in, took the cash tills and left.

"Luckily we don't really take much cash any more, most people pay on card so there was probably only about £8 in there.

"The insurance will pay for the door but the tills are a loss, it's more a hassle to deal with than anything else."

Following the incident Tiffany is having cameras installed and encouraged other small businesses to do the same.

"What worried me is that it's unfortunately becoming a much more regular occurrence.

"I've heard it happen to somebody else locally recently. I'm a small business, it's just a colleague and myself.

"We're having cameras installed and I'd push for others to do the same because you never think it's going to happen to you and then it does."

The break in comes in the midst of a difficult period for small businesses brought on by the rising cost of living.

"As well as the cost of products and energy going up, clients are going longer between appointments." Tiffany said.

"They used to go four or five weeks and now they're waiting six, seven, eight weeks, if not more.

"But other than that we are so lucky. We have a lovely clientele, it's a proper community, they come back to support us and they become your friends.

"The hair dressing industry has definitely changed and no matter if the person is 12-years-old or 90-years-old, a pound is a pound and it goes a long way."

Tiffany wanted to thank the community for their support following the break in, saying: "We've had an amazing response.

"People have been so kind and appreciative of what we do, for them to recognise how hard we work, it restores your faith in humanity.

"I feel lucky and blessed that my salon wasn't wrecked, because it meant I could still work.

"When you do get dealt something like this, you can't quite believe people like that exist.

"But then you need to remember that there are still good people out there and they might not realise how much a simple kind message or a quick text means and how it can change someone's day."

It follows a break in at another independent business, Simply Sweet, in Newark at the start of the month where the owner also talked about the increased frequency of business break ins and vandalism.

The Studio has continued to open as usual and no appointments were missed as a result of the break in.

CCTV from the area is being collected and Tiffany is appealing for anyone with information or who may have been nearby at the time to get in touch.