Dublin café ‘heartbroken’ after ‘malicious’ vandal attack last night

The Hot Sandwich Company in Baldoyle have taken to Instagram to share images of damage caused by an act of vandalism at the café last night.

Windows at the popular north Dublin eatery were smashed in last night in an act that the owners believe was 'was malicious and intimidation.' A post by the Hot Sandwich Company on Instagram says that: 'Unfortunately this really wasn’t the way we had hoped to be starting off our 2021 having to write that our little cafe was completely vandalised and ruined last night. 'To say we are heartbroken is an understatement. Our lovely cafe is our only source of income and our staffs as well. Covid-19 has been extremely challenging for us as a business however we’ve stayed open throughout following government guidelines and keeping all of our lovely customers fed!' It goes on to say that 'Unfortunately we do have reason to believe that this was malicious and intimidation. We should not be intimidated or given abuse for doing our jobs. We have a system in place that we have to follow to keep all customers safe while ordering at the cafe. 'If anyone has any information or saw anything suspicious in the Baldoyle area last night around 11:30pm we would appreciate you getting in contact with us with any details. We are in tough enough times as it is without having our sole income torn away from us. We would appreciate everyone to share so this can be spread. Thank you everyone for all the love, The HSC' https://www.instagram.com/p/CKlhpi3AXvP/ People have expressed their anger and sadness underneath the post, with one person saying 'this is horrible, HSC is such a lovely cafe and very much needed in the area' and another adding 'so sorry to hear when this, when it reopens we are buying our coffee there every day.' A sad sight to see, particularly when so many small businesses are struggling at the moment. Hopefully the HSC can recover from this mindless act. In the meantime, witnesses are asked to get in touch with information. READ NEXT: Roger Federer accepts charity match challenge from tennis-mad DCU students