Edinburgh crime: Owner of Corstorphine deli Bennitos 'gutted' after second break-in in first year

St John’s Road deli owner has a “disheartening” start to the week

The owner of Corstorphine delicatessen Bennitos suffered a “disheartening” start to the week after discovering its premises on St John’s Road was broken into at the weekend for a second time since opening less than a year ago.

Ahead of the deli’s first birthday later this month, owner Keira Crawford spoke of her sadness at this second break-in, adding that other local businesses have suffered the same fate recently. She said: “It’s not a good start to your Bank Holiday Monday. It’s gutting because it’s not the first time. We’ve not even been open a year, so I suppose it’s really sad it’s happening as it’s such a nice and supportive community here.

"It’s a break-in, and they have damaged our front door. We never leave cash on the premises so thankfully we have not lost any money. And it’s happening to quite a lot of businesses across Corstorphine. I think there has been two or three incidents with other businesses and homes that we know about. We are just looking to get to our first year birthday this month with a nice positive attitude, but this is a dampener.”

Bennitos delicatessen at St John's Road in Corstorphine was broken into on Sunday, its second break-in during its first year in business.

Despite this “dampener” Bennitos has been successful since it opened, with Keira still encouraged by the deli’s first year in business overall. She said: "It’s been great here except for the two break-ins. We’ve been well received by the community, people here seem to love what we do. Everyone has been so supportive, it’s been great. We just started out to be a takeaway but now we have an indoor bit at the back, which goes outside and is roasting when the sun comes out, it’s really nice.

"So it’s evolved into being a lot busier than we imagined. We are re-launching with a new menu to mark our first birthday, so yes this second break-in puts a dampener on things, it’s just disheartening. But it could have been worse.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report of a break-in at a business on St John’s Road in Edinburgh around 7.50am on Monday, May 8, with entry having been forced over the previous night. Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information can call 101, quoting reference 0780 of May 8.”