Thieves smash their way into two of Sheffield’s most popular independent restaurants

Intruders struck at Na Pedra and Urban-Ita, both on Abbeydale Road, during the early hours of Wednesday, February 5.

They smashed through the glass door at the Portuguese restaurant Na Pedra, which is ranked 14th out of nearly 1,200 restaurants in the city on TripAdvisor, and stole bottles and money from the till.

They also smashed the glass at Urban-Ita, an Italian cafe/restaurant ranked 117th on Tripadvisor, but failed to gain entry.

Both restaurants remain open as usual, as their owners count the cost.

Na Pedra’s owner Nelson Furtado said: “There was very little taken, but the senseless damage is expensive and time consuming to repair. The community has rallied round, and their support really helps.”

Alex Crasatti, who runs Urban-Ita with his partner Ilaria, said the broken glass would cost around £300 to replace, which he described as ‘a lot of money’ for a small restaurant like theirs.

“The people who live above our cafe said they heard a couple of guys shouting and screaming before trying to kick in the door at around 5.30am,” he added.

“As soon as they switched on the lights to see what was happening, the burglars disappeared.

“About five minutes later, the people upstairs heard Na Pedra’s door being kicked in, before the burglars returned here and tried to finish the job but couldn’t.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting incident number 214 of February 5.