{"id":1061969,"date":"2026-07-01T14:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1061969\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:26:42","slug":"cctv-captures-man-smashing-his-way-into-the-victoria-in-clifton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1061969\/","title":{"rendered":"CCTV captures man smashing his way into The Victoria in Clifton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landlord Finn says its opening day will still go ahead\"bristolpost\"<\/p>\n

15:56, 30 Jun 2026Updated 13:14, 01 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Clifton pub broken into just days before it’s due to reopen<\/p>\n

Dramatic CCTV has captured the moment a man smashed his way into a pub in Clifton<\/a> just days before its doors were due to open.<\/p>\n

The Victoria, which was due to reopen on July 3 with a new owner and interior<\/a>, was broken into in the early hours of Thursday morning (June 25).<\/p>\n

The incident was caught on film and shows a man smashing the window of the pub’s front door, before attempting to help himself to some of the new stock, much of which was still in boxes waiting to be put out.<\/p>\n

Finn Reeves, the new landlord of The Victoria on Southleigh Road, told BristolLive: “I woke to an email from my lovely neighbours at the Lido at around 6.30am warning me of a smashed window and I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast in my life.”<\/p>\n

“With a window smashed with a manhole cover they came inside and had a good rummage. Not only stealing a few hundreds of pounds worth of spirits but they also took a healthy chunk out of my snack selection.<\/p>\n

“He had a particular love for Dry Roasted Nobbys, stuffing his pocket and even cracking open a pack whilst deciding what booze he fancied stealing. The clever chap did try ripping apart my CCTV but left the recorder so we can all gaze upon his face.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The window of The Victoria pub in Clifton was smashed during a break-in on Thursday, June 25(Image: Finn Reeves)<\/p>\n

Despite the incident Finn, who previously worked in Clifton Village for two years at The Bristol Fringe, is trying not to let this bring down the excitement of his new venture.<\/p>\n

He added: “It’s just rather demoralising, I haven’t taken a single penny yet and already people are breaking into my cash drawer to see what they can help themselves to.<\/p>\n

“However there’s no way I’m letting this slow me down. I’ve lost a precious day of prep for the opening which is a week away – that’s a shame but it could have been so much worse. Rest assured I am making The Victoria completely thief proof. I have already beefed up security.”<\/p>\n

Finn’s is not the first pub<\/a> or local independent business in Bristol to fall victim of a break-in in recent months. BristolLive reported on June 16 that The Crown Tavern in St Jude’s had captured CCTV of a thief breaking in<\/a> and making off with some bottles of alcohol.<\/p>\n

We also listed other businesses that had suffered with break-ins<\/a>, including Two Ways Coffee, Plantuguese, Sandwich Sandwich, and even Ebenezer Church’s foodbank offices.<\/p>\n

Finn said: “This seems to be happening to a lot of venues at the moment so I’m not alone, but the lack of respect for these small businesses is just a shame. People are viewing them as ‘easy pickings’ when they are already feeling the pressures of the highest VAT rates in Europe and rising business rates.<\/p>\n

\"Finn<\/p>\n

Finn Reeves is the new landlord of The Victoria in Clifton(Image: Finn Reeves)<\/p>\n

“What has been incredible has been all of the support from friends, family, locals and the hospitality community as a whole, so I can’t thank you all enough for the words of encouragement. Rest assured I am still on track to open on the July 3, so please come down and support, you are all welcome (apart from the Nobbys thief)!<\/p>\n

“Oh and if anyone spots a missing manhole cover then please let me know as I have it ! Not by choice though….”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Avon & Somerset Police said: “We received a report of a burglary at a pub in Southleigh Road, Clifton, at around 7am.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The manhole cover said to have been used to smash the window to The Victoria pub in Clifton (Image: Finn Reeves)<\/p>\n

“A window was smashed to the front of the building, and a hammer was left on a table at the scene, but it is not clear what has been stolen at this stage. Forensics officers have attended and we have contacted the owner of the building while enquiries continue.<\/p>\n

“Anybody with information which could assist our enquiries are asked to contact us on 101 quoting 5226174853 or complete our online appeals form.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Landlord Finn says its opening day will still go ahead 15:56, 30 Jun 2026Updated 13:14, 01 Jul 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1061970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,381,748,18959,188,393,4884,9028,16,15],"class_list":["post-1061969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","tag-bristol","tag-britain","tag-clifton","tag-crime","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-pubs-and-bars-in-bristol","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116845190312490450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}