Burnley's William's Lounge Bar targeted by raiders for second time in a month

But the defiant message from Neil and Keira Stuttard is: “You won’t stop us and we rise above.” The couple were alerted to the break in at William’s Lounge Bar in Yorke Street at 7-30am today. In the first break-in at the end of November, offenders smashed the large front window in order to gain access. This time the culprits smashed the glass in the front door.

But the bar was open and up and running for business today, known as ‘Mad Friday’ and traditionally one of the busiest days of the year.

Keira said: “This makes me very sad because we have worked so hard on our bar and we love it. This has not only disrupted our business but our family too.

“We believe it’s being targeted but William’s is too important to us to let this drag us down.”

The first burglary happened on the weekend before Neil and Keira unveiled the bar’s new look in time for its fourth anniversary. The re-modelling work at William’s has taken around three months, with the old bathroom facilities having been ripped out and re-sited to make way for a new seating area that will accommodate an extra 25 customers.