THE owners of a new Worcester sandwich shop had a huge shock when they turned up on the opening day to find it had been raided by thieves.

Subway was one of three adjoining businesses in Warndon Villages broken into on the same night.

Harmesh Kumar and Matthew Neale had arrived early for their opening day.

"It was a lot of effort to get to this stage and everybody was really excited about opening," said Mr Kumar.

"They had ripped some CCTV cameras off the walls and taken till equipment - they made a right mess of everything."

Determined to open their business as promised, the owners raced around trying to get the necessary equipment. They drove to Derby and Leicester before arriving back in time to open for the lunchtime rush at 1pm.

"We had to turn away about 100 people before then and we are very sorry for that," they said. Mr Kumar estimates the damage caused, including loss of business, was about £1,500.

The shops in Berkeley Way, which are all new businesses, were targeted between 9.30pm on Tuesday, April 22, and 6.40am on Wednesday, April 23. It is believed the thieves got through a fire door and into a back corridor.

From the corridor they were able to force open the fire doors into the back of each of the three shops.

An iPod and cash till drawer containing £25 float were taken from neighbouring Avantgarde, which has been open for just one week.

Lollipops which are given to customers and children were scattered across the salon floor. Director Ian Beswick said: "It was horrendous, we worked for 10 months to try and make this salon happen."

At Diamond Flowers, which opened three weeks ago, a till containing about £100 cash and laptop computer were stolen.

Florist Emma Pegler said: "It is so unnecessary but luckily they did not trash the shop."

A spokesman for South Worcestershire police said the only items reported stolen were an empty till, food and alcohol from Subway.

Anyone with any information is asked to call 08457 444 888 quoting 69/s/230408, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.