A Leeds climbing centre has been left in ruin by a “devastating” theft, which saw hundreds of items stolen and thousands of pounds of damage.
CityBloc was the home of Leeds’ first climbing wall in 2009, and until the theft, the business had soared. Now, staff – including operations manager Jenny Baker – are “staring down the barrel” of months of work to fix the damage.
According to Jenny, 49, burglars broke into CityBloc in the early hours of August 20. Jenny said: “This wasn’t just a simple theft; it was devastating.
CCTV captured the thieves, clad in balaclavas, hauling out kitchen equipment -Credit:CityBloc
“They weren’t opportunists, this was an organised gang. They didn’t just take things, they systematically stripped our business of essential and costly items and caused expensive damage to our space.”
The theft was extensive, with the entire cafe being cleared of fridges, freezers and coffee machines. All of the maintenance tools, setting tools and ladders, as well as gym equipment and cash from the till, along with 200 pairs of climbing shoes, were also stolen.
The break-in also caused damage and water damage. Jenny said: “When they ripped out the coffee machine, they didn’t bother to turn off the water. For about four hours, water flowed freely across our reception area and mats.
“This caused water damage to our electrics, computers, and sound system, and caused extensive water damage that took days to sort out. They even stole our wet vacuums, so the cleanup was painfully slow until we could get an emergency replacement.”
Now the team fear they will struggle to heat the venue in winter, which could really impact the use of the space potentially forcing closure.
Jenny said: “Our winter heating plan has been scuppered. We’ve had to spend our heating fund on replacing items and paying the bills, and without heating, we’ll struggle even more when the really cold weather hits and fewer people want to climb.
“Sadly, bills don’t stop because a gang has nicked and damaged much of the stuff you need to run a business. We have had to use our entire heating budget just to stay afloat. Now we’re heading into another winter with no heating, which is disappointing to say the least.”
CCTV captured the break-in -Credit:CityBloc
In addition to insurance, Jenny said the funds will take some time to come in and not everything will be covered. In the meantime, CityBloc has set up a fund to try to cover the financial gap while they wait for insurance, replenish the heating fund, and replace the kit.
Jenny said: “The break-in hit us harder than we initially realised. Yes, insurance will cover some of the losses but there’s a significant lag before we see that money and not everything is covered. But here’s what really stings – the break-in cost us our heating fund.
“We’ll use any funds raised to cover the shortfall this burglary has created and get our heating budget back. Every pound will go towards making sure we’re resilient through the depths of winter ahead.”
West Yorkshire Police are currently investigating the burglary.
Anyone with any information that could assist the investigation into these burglaries is asked to contact Leeds District Investigation Team via Live Chat online or by calling 101, quoting crime reference 13250477009.
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