The owner of a beloved Abbey Wood café is refusing to give up hope after thugs bashed their way into her business in a shocking overnight raid.

Sharon Leggett, 48 and owner of The Crafty Café, spoke of her anger after she received an early morning phone call on Thursday, May 9, from a friend to inform her that the front window of her community coffee shop had been smashed in by callous criminals.

"I’m trying to run a local business and these things cost money to repair.

"We work hard for what we have and now we just feel violated," said Mrs Leggett.

Unfortunately, this is the second theft attempt to hit The Crafty Café in recent weeks, as burglars forced their way through the front door only a fortnight ago.

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"I got burgled over two weeks ago and I had my front door kicked in," Mrs Leggett continued.

"I think that one of our friends who locked up left £6 left on the till and they even took that.

"But I lost the whole day’s takings the last time we got robbed after paying for the door to be fixed.

"All of that has to come out of my pocket," she said.

Mrs Leggett started her quirky business more than eight years ago after taking over the space from a failing pizzeria.

Following a successful start, the café became a big hit with residents and regularly puts on a whole host of community activities including bingo nights and table quizzes, things Mrs Leggett feels is missing in her locality.

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"It’s a community café, we welcome everyone from all walks of life.

"In our community we don’t have those facilities and we’re gradually losing things around here.

"People do enjoy coming here and to our bingo and quiz nights," said Mrs Leggett.

The Crafty Café's success is evident in the overwhelming support Mrs Leggett has received following Wednesday night's break-in, including help from a friendly glazier who replaced the smashed window shortly after forensics had finished collecting evidence, allowing her to get back to business.

It's from this spectacular support from which the café owner says she draws her strength to soldier on and continue providing a service for her community.

"The level of support I've had is phenomenal.

"I have amazing friends and the community around here on the whole are really good.

"It's an unfortunate thing of happen and I am a little bit fed up with having to recover from the first time for it to happens again.

"But I'm not gonna let the wotsits get me down, why should they?

"In our community we don’t have a lot of facilities and we’re gradually losing things around here," she said.

The Met have been contacted for an update on the case.