Vandals smash up pub

8:50pm Monday 6th October 2008

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Vandals broke into a pub and caused an estimated £4,000 damage before fleeing with £2,000 in cash.

Landlords Andrew Paterson and his girlfriend Emma Buckett fear The Canal Bridge, in Upper Wolvercote, will be shut for two weeks after the weekend attack.

The culprits removed a window next to a stage door in the pub’s main room before ransacking a fruit machine, two juke boxes and a pool table.

They then urinated on a carpet before using a CO2 fire extinguisher to cover their footprints.

Ms Buckett, 25, said she thought the wrecking spree was a deliberate attempt to shut the pub, which has been trading in Plough Close, Upper Wolvercote, for 16 months.

But she vowed: "It is not going to beat us. We are going to be back stronger than ever. "We are slightly worried about repercussions but if they do it again we will put it right again. They are not going to drive us out."

Ms Buckett added: "The more I looked around the more I saw it was done purposefully.

"I cannot believe anyone could stoop so low. I think they are scum."

Mr Paterson, 28, said: "We are devastated. I am angry and frustrated with them."

The Canal Bridge was once a Royal British Legion Club, but was taken over by the couple a month before it was due to fold in June 2007.

They vowed to keep it as a community hub, but have been forced to cancel a senior citizen's lunch club, a family disco and Royal British Legion meetings while they get equipment repaired and the pub industrially cleaned.

The Rev Paul Rimmer, 83, who arrived at the pub to find the senior citizens club cancelled this morning, said: "It is a tragedy. It is mindless violence.

"It mystifies me why young people feel the need to break up things."

Anyone with information should call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.