A NEW dessert shop has been targeted by burglars within days of opening.

The glass front door of Heavenly Desserts, in Deansgate, was smashed by a burglar who made off with all the cash in the till in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The luxury confectionery diner has only just started to welcome customers, receiving a visit from the Mayor of Bolton among 100 VIPs to get the branch off to a sweet start this week.

But at 5.29am yesterday, owner Ish Ahmed woke up to a call from the alarm company saying the restaurant had been burgled. A man hurled a stone slab, believed to have been picked up from nearby roadworks, through the glass door and rushed in to grab the store’s cash drawer from the till.

Mr Ahmed said: “We are very disappointed and shocked given how much effort and resources have been put into renovation. It’s just mindless violence on a brand new shop. Thank god it wasn’t worse.

“We’ve now been told by people that the site gets burgled three to four times a year. We didn’t know that before.

“We are going to work closely with the police and town centre management to find out what happened. We have CCTV and that’s something we’re interested in looking into.”

The owner says the response from the public has restored his faith in the area.

He said: “The reaction from members of the public to notify us that this happened was amazing.

“People stood around at the front of the shop for an hour in the morning to make sure that nobody came in.

"We want to thank them.”

Although the week has not gone to plan, the owner says he is not put off from trading.

Mr Ahmed added: “Hopefully this is a one off. The support we have had from the community has been very reassuring.”