Edinburgh restaurant 'so disappointed' as brazen thief leaves them £25k out of pocket

Staff at Bell Bottom Eatery, on Polwarth Crescent, arrived for their shift on Saturday (March 1) to find a large window smashed and more than £10,000 of cash missing.

After viewing CCTV footage, they claim to have captured a hooded thief breaking into the Indian restaurant at around 4.45am and taking money from a safe – before returned an hour later and stealing £15,000 of alcohol.

According to restaurant area manager Leena Kumar, the money stolen from the premises included thousands of pounds of staff tips.

In a statement shared with the Evening News, she said: “The break-in took place around 4.30am this morning with the cash till, cash safe and very expensive alcohol stolen from the premises. I'm the area manager and I turned up this morning to see everything shattered.

“They took almost £10,000 cash, tips of the entire month was around £3,000. We are so disappointed.

“They also took £14,000 worth of alcohol – including expensive whiskeys and wines. It's such a shame someone would destroy a small business like that. We only opened in August 2024.

“We have had to close for today but will maybe be open this evening for deliveries if we manage to get the shattered window fixed. The thief actually came in a second time to take alcohol after leaving with cash the first time.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson: “Around 7am on Saturday, 1 March, 2025, we received a report of a housebreaking at a premises in the Polwarth Crescent area of Edinburgh that occurred overnight. Enquiries are ongoing.”

Sign up today for our free breaking newsletters and get all of the biggest stories direct to your inbox. Click here to sign up.