A SMALL GROUP of masked men broke in to a coffee shop in South Dublin and took a sum of cash in an overnight raid last week.

Mötley Brüe, an independent coffee shop in Stillorgan, was broken into early on Monday morning last week by a group of three masked figures.

The group smashed the glass front door to the shop using a screwdriver and a crowbar, before making their way in to the premises.

The three men then spent several minutes inside the building before a sum of cash worth several hundred euro was taken from the store office. 

Mötley Brüe owner Tom Brennan said that no staff were in the shop at the time, but described it as “a scary incident nonetheless”.

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“You put so much time and effort into businesses like this, that even a few hundred euro can be life-changing for a small business in the worst way possible,” Tom said.

The group were overheard smashing the glass door by a neighbour living nearby, who told Tom that the noise “had woken up his whole family”.

Gardaí were alerted, but the men involved made a quick escape in a vehicle which had been parked outside.

Tom noted that the men had “oddly” skipped over the service till at the front entrance of the coffee shop, and only took the sum of cash from the office.

He added that the vehicle involved was “known to the gardaí”, and said that a number of burglaries had been reported in the area in recent weeks.

“We’re going to be ok, but it’s the first time it’s happened to us after 14 months of business. There’s another small business connected to us and they’ve never seen anything like this happen here in years,” Tom said.

‘On the rise’

While Mötley Brüe has since reopened, Tom noted that the problem “seems to be worsening” in Dublin, which he says could be due to a declining garda presence.

The broken glassdoor has since been covered with plywood. Andrew Walsh / The Journal Andrew Walsh / The Journal / The Journal

“A lot of areas in Dublin City centre have gone downhill in terms of safety from theft – people definitely think that they can get away with it more,” he said.

“You see a lot of stuff in the news about declining garda numbers, and I suppose people know that when they’re considering committing crimes now”.

Several food premises were broken into last week across Dublin, including coffee shop It’s A Trap on Aungier Street.

Tom added that while while the garda response was “quite quick” for the Mötley Brüe break-in, overall visible presence of gardaí across Dublin is low.

“Dublin city centre is definitely worse than this area for garda presence – and that would leave you very concerned as a business owner.

“Who are you going to turn to? We’re ok here, but God help you if in you’re in the city. These break-ins are definitely on the rise.”