BUSINESS owners have been left worried and calling for better CCTV coverage after several stores in the same vicinity were burgled.

Shops and eateries — and a primary school — in Horwich are on alert after a spate of break-ins at premises in the town centre carried out over a fortnight.

Home Bakery and Cafe Latte in Winter Hey Lane was targeted on November 19 while Ladbrokes in Lee Lane and Sandwich Specialist in Winter Hey Lane were struck overnight Sunday into Monday.

Thieves smashed into Mr Chips and Viva Espana, neighbouring businesses in Winter Hey Lane, and broke into Victoria Sandwich in Lee Lane.

Linda Makin, owner of Home Bakery and Cafe Latte, said: “I have got bars on my windows and shutters. It’s like Dodge City round here. It’s pathetic. They need to do something about cameras — we need some cameras.”

Burglars climbed on to the roof of her cafe and removed the extractor fan before dropping inside and stealing the keys to her works van.

Ms Makin believes she may have disturbed the intruders when she returned to the property at 1.30am.

She said: “I’m worried. Why would somebody climb on to the roof of the chip shop and try to take the slates off to get in?

“Why would they take my extractor fan off and break in? It’s frightening.”

Burglars removed slate tiles from the roof of Mr Chips and Viva Espana overnight between Wednesday and Thursday last week.

Francisco Javier Garcia, owner of Viva Espana, said the thieves climbed into the loft space, smashed a hole through the ceiling, dropped through and a stole a laptop, two iPads, an iPhone 4 and cash from the till.

They removed the expensive bottles of spirits from the shelves in both the upstairs and downstairs dining rooms and gathered them all on a table, but for some reason did not actually steal any.

Mr Garcia said: “I’m worried. It’s really unnerving.

“They’ve made a big mess upstairs.”

Lord Street Community Primary School in Lord Street was also targeted but the details have not been revealed.