{"id":204887,"date":"2025-11-28T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/204887\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T14:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:35:11","slug":"intruder-tried-to-smash-way-into-cafe-with-traffic-cone-in-cork-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/204887\/","title":{"rendered":"Intruder tried to smash way into caf\u00e9 with traffic cone in Cork city"},"content":{"rendered":"

A caf\u00e9 and restaurant were separately broken into over the last two days<\/p>\n

12:53, 28 Nov 2025Updated 14:17, 28 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

Coffee Scape owner Inka Malesevic next to the shattered window(Image: Daire Fitton\/CorkBeo)<\/p>\n

The owners of a popular caf\u00e9 in Cork city <\/a>arrived to work this morning to find the front doors had been smashed in with rocks and a traffic cone. It is the second break-in and damage they’ve had to deal with in two years – and the second break-in incident in the Shandon area in recent days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inka Malesevic and her partner, Jakob, who run Croatian caf\u00e9 Coffee Scape on Pope’s Quay<\/a>, said that they woke up early this morning to a flurry of missed calls and texts informing them that the caf\u00e9 had been broken into. Jakob told us how he rushed to the caf\u00e9 in his dressing gown to find a large traffic cone through the glass of the front door and Garda\u00ed<\/a> at the property.<\/p>\n

The would-be intruder<\/a> tried to smash their way into the caf\u00e9 using a traffic cone in the early hours of the morning. The suspect only managed to break the glass in the first door before being confronted by a passerby and then fleeing the scene.<\/p>\n

A traffic cone and a heavy rock were used to smash the glass<\/p>\n

In CCTV footage seen by CorkBeo, a man with his hood up can be seen trying to smash the glass on the door using the base of the bright orange cone.<\/p>\n

After breaking through the first door, he then left the scene, returning a few minutes later with a chunk of concrete. From there, he used he cone to clear the glass shards from the door frame until he was confronted by a member of the public. It appears he had planned to use the hefty chunk to break through the second door, as he was unable to fit the cone through the first one.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed were alerted, and the CCTV footage has been handed over to assist in the investigation. Speaking to CorkBeo this morning, Jakob said: “When I checked my phone this morning, I had so many texts and missed calls, customers and neighbours were calling me about the broken window. I got up and came down in my dressing gown and found the broken window, stones all around and the big cone. He was using a cone to break the door, and there was a mess everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only good thing about this time is that nobody actually got in; they just broke the window. Somebody stopped him; they shouted at him from the bridge, so he got scared and ran.”<\/p>\n

The damage to the door is still expected to cost hundreds of euros to fix. While the property is insured, the couple say that paying for it out of pocket will prevent their premium from going up. However, it will be an expense that eats into the already thin margins typical of the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n

Inka added: \u201cRunning your own cafe is very personal, so seeing the place damaged, it\u2019s as if someone broke into your own house. That\u2019s the way it feels, it is like a home to us. It\u2019s not easy, especially as it\u2019s the second time that it\u2019s happened in two years. You\u2019d be wondering what you can do to protect yourself, and then you realise that there isn\u2019t much you can do other than hope it doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust think of how many coffees you\u2019d have to sell in order to pay for just one broken window. It feels very personal. It is ridiculous that in two years the same thing has happened twice to us and Four Liars. \u201d<\/p>\n

In August of 2023, a man was arrested following a break-in at the popular caf\u00e9<\/a> after cash was stolen. The thief gained access by smashing the window. The break-in was reported by a passerby, and Garda\u00ed apprehended the criminal shortly after.<\/p>\n

The incident at Coffee Scape last night follows another break-in less than 250m away on Dominick Street earlier this week. In the early hours of Thursday morning, thieves smashed a window on the side of the Four Liar’s Bistro and stole a sum of cash and a number of items from the popular Syrian restaurant. Both establishments had previously been broken into in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Four Liars Bistro on Dominick Street<\/p>\n

After the incident on Thursday morning, Garda\u00ed sealed off the scene and conducted a technical examination. No arrests have been made, and the investigation into the matter is still ongoing.<\/p>\n

A Garda spokesperson said: “Garda\u00ed received a report of an incident of burglary that occurred at a business premises in the Dominic Street area of Cork city overnight between Wednesday 26th November 2025 and Thursday 27th November 2025. A number of items and a quantity of cash were reported as stolen. A technical examination of the scene has been conducted. Investigations are ongoing.”<\/p>\n

The smashed window on the side of the Four Liars Bistro<\/p>\n

Coffee Scape has grown steadily in popularity since it opened in 2022. It has become a popular hub for both Cork’s Balkan community and local Leesiders. The hard-working owners serve coffee and treats until late seven days a week, and despite the break-in, it was business as usual today at Coffee Scape with plenty of customers coming through the doors at a slightly later opening time.<\/p>\n

Coffee Scape is a favourite of many coffee aficionados on Leeside, with the establishment claiming the top spot in CorkBeo’s top Cork city caf\u00e9s for 2025. In a city full of so many wonderful caf\u00e9s, it was tough competition, and while there were some strong contenders, Coffee Scape emerged as the winner<\/p>\n

Owners Jakob and Inka are always keen to give back to the local community, and this year they’re once again planning to lend a helping hand to those struggling to make ends meet over Christmas. Every year, the couple prepares discreet food packages that are handed out in the shop. The service is totally confidential, and more details will be available on the caf\u00e9s social channels in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A caf\u00e9 and restaurant were separately broken into over the last two days 12:53, 28 Nov 2025Updated 14:17,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,11167,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-204887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-gardai","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}