A shopkeeper had his Bank Holiday weekend ruined after his restaurant was targeted by theives causing an estimated �15,000 worth of damage.

Le Hope Balti House in Upminster Road South, Rainham was broken into in the early hours of Saturday morning June 2.

Moklis Ali, the owner of the restaurant said: “It was a complete horrible way to start the Diamond Jubilee weekend.

“It is terrible, everyone knows it is hard as it is to run a business in this economic climate and when people do things like this it is even harder.”

The thieves managed to gain entry into the restaurant by smashing the windows and doors with a brick.

Moklis, left the restaurant at 1am on Friday June 1 and was alerted to the break in when he received a call at 10am on Saturday.

The thieves made off with �100 from the till, eight chairs and 30 bottles of alcohol including champagne and spirits,

The restaurant’s fridge and freezer was also ransacked with the thieves stealing a packet of King Prawns.

Moklis says that he was forced to throw away �4,000 worth of stock after the fridge was left open.

He said: “It is very hard when something like this happens.

“You are trying to make your business a success, but these thieves don’t help.

“They damaged the walls and floors when they tried to take the chairs out.”

Last year, Moklis says that he interrupted two people on the top of restaurant trying to steal lead from the roof.

He is now trying to estimate the damage caused by the latest break in, but he believes that it could run into �15,000.

He said: “I am going to have to claim it from the insurance, but it is just something that we can’t afford.

“The restaurant will need lots of work to get it back to how it was.”

Cllr Jeff Tucker, the chairman of the Rainham Village Shopkeepers association said: “Shopkeepers are struggling to keep their businesses going without having to deal with this.”

Anyone with information should call the police on 101.