An independent cafe owner says a man and two children ran up a large bill before leaving without paying.

Anna Carpenter, 55, opened Cafe No.35 in Canterbury three-and-a-half years ago and says the upsetting incident has left her staff shaken up.

In events captured on CCTV, a man, a young girl and a boy who appears to be a teenager briskly leave the St Margaret's Street diner last Monday afternoon, after ordering two fried breakfasts, three portions of chips, five cokes and a milkshake. The total bill came to about £60.

Miss Carpenter explained that after finishing up, the group came inside the cafe and the man asked if he could order something for his wife, who he said would be joining them soon.

The waitress agreed and took the order into the kitchen, but the group was gone when she returned.

Miss Carpenter was upset over what had happened but did not blame the waitress, who was left stressed over the encounter.

“I had two young girls working on that day and we were very busy,” she said.

“They kept trying to get my waitresses’ attention, who would then go out again and they would order more.

“My waitress said she started to feel uneasy because the man would keep peering through the window looking inside the cafe. He did it so often that she did feel that something wasn’t quite right and she certainly felt uncomfortable.

“It’s just one of those things and there are people out there who do this sort of thing all the time.”

Miss Carpenter watched the events back on CCTV.

“It did look really strange that he spent so much time looking through the window,” she said.

“Everything my waitress had told me was there on the CCTV. They walked out very quickly and certainly left at pace.”

She added that the theft is another blow for them in an already difficult climate.

“So many venues have closed across the country and it is quite frightening the impact that all of these issues, certainly since the pandemic, have had on the industry,” she said.

“We’re just doing the best we can to stay in business so for somebody to steal from us hurts and affects all of the staff. It’s really upsetting.”

The business owner says this is the first time such an incident has happened at Cafe No.35, although other crimes have occurred.

She goes on: “We’ve had other things happen such as someone stealing our tip jar. Someone also did a slight-of-hand trick to scam us out of some money when asking to change up some £5 notes. We have also had someone break in before.

“Now we’ve had these people steal from us it’s just another blow. It’s heartbreaking.

“There’s also absolutely no thought for anybody else but themselves.”

Following the incident, Miss Carpenter shared a CCTV image on Facebook in a bid to get the group back to pay their bill and alert other businesses.