Can you help us beat the burglars? One of our shops has been broken into – the third burglary in two weeks.

We’re beefing up our security as you would expect but we’re asking you to be vigilant.

In the latest break-in overnight on Thursday 19 December, thieves smashed their way in through the front door of our Wellington shop in Market Square and took a small quantity of cash from the safe.

Our Lawley shop was attacked on Monday night and our Shifnal one the Monday before that. 

Retail manager Ross Henderson said: “It’s just so disheartening for everyone here, not just those in the shops affected. The cost of putting right the damage they’ve caused – fixing things and missing trading hours – is way more than anything they’re getting away with; it’s just infuriating.

“The shops team, which includes volunteers, work so hard to raise money and are so well supported by everyone with donations and purchases, and all of that is just taken away whenever something like this happens.

“We are there for the community when they need us and I’m hoping they can be there for us in a slightly different way now. I’m asking if they see anything suspicious happening near our shops to report it to the police and if they hear of anything that might help the police investigation to share it with them.

“Market Square is in the middle of town and the way they got in won’t have been quiet.”

Action was also being taken to improve security in a bid to thwart the thieves, he added. “We’re already doing the obvious like keeping to a minimum the amount of cash we hold overnight and we’ll do other things too so it’s just not worth their while taking from us,” said Ross.

Anyone with any information about any of the burglaries is asked to contact the police.