Thieves broke into a pub in Horrabridge early on Wednesday morning and made off with the staff tips.

The offenders broke in through a window at The Leaping Salmon and took £150 cash – including all the tips – along with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

No one was on the premises overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday. The window was jemmied open.

‘We are a little bit frustrated obviously,’ said landlord Ben Stevens. ‘We’ve had a locksmith in to change the locks and put in new CCTV. It is a shame this can happen in a little country pub. It is obviously someone local. We’ve had three businesses now that have been broken into. The Walkhampton Inn has had five break ins over the past month, and I believe they tried to break into the London Inn on the same night as us.’

Down the road at the London Inn, staff member Tina Webber confirmed that an attempt had been made to break in that night through the back door of the pub. Judging by marks left on the door frame, an attempt was made to jemmy open the door.

‘Ours would have happened on Tuesday night,’ said Tina. ‘The landlord lives here so he noticed it on the Wednesday morning. We have got double doors and the inside door has padlocks on it so they didn’t get in.’