'Times are pretty tough as it is': Thieves smash into popular Ancoats chocolatiers in middle of night

The owners of a chocolatiers in Manchester say they are ‘struggling enough as it is’ after their store was broken into.

Cocoa Cabana, located on Murray Street in Ancoats, was ransacked by thieves in the early hours of Sunday morning (April 2). The thieves, who made their way in by breaking the store’s front windows, smashed up items inside and stole the shop’s till.

Posting on the shop’s Instagram page on Sunday, Cocoa Cabana said: “We will be open a little later today because some scumbags broke into my chocolate shop at Easter. I literally have no words right now.

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“Life is so tough for independent and all businesses at the moment and to have to deal with this on top of everything else quite frankly is too much. My team have been amazing this morning. We are cleaning up and we will be ready to open soon.”

Sarah Gallacher, who owns the Ancoats store alongside another in Didsbury, said she believes the thieves - who struck at around 3am - have now cost the business more than £4,000 in damages.

“I was pretty upset when I found out this morning,” Sarah told the M.E.N. “It just feels like it’s just another thing to deal with on top of everything else. We’ve just got through Covid, we’ve got rising costs and having to now put up with someone doing this to something we’ve worked hard for is not great.”

The award-winning chocolatier, tearoom and cocktail bar launched in 2019 and has been a big hit with foodies in Manchester ever since. It was even named by Cadbury as one of the best independent chocolatiers in the UK.

Sarah says the break-in has been caught on CCTV and thanked a passer-by who reported the incident as it happened.

“So