On Monday, September 29, Clock Tower Café on 31 Claremont Road was broken into just before 9pm.
The break-in was quick but owner Ghouna Alnaffakh was left with a heavy financial burden.
Ghouna told Your Local Guardian: “Usually, we’re closed on Monday.
“On Tuesday morning, we had a police officer knocking on our door telling us that someone broke into the Clock Tower Café.
“We went with them in the car, and when we arrived we saw the glass door had been completely shattered.
“Thankfully, nothing was stolen.
“We checked the CCTV footage and managed to identify the person who broke in.
“It looked like he was searching for cash, but he didn’t find anything.
“He was inside for just 55 seconds before leaving.”
Ghouna explained that a festival took place in Surbiton just the Saturday before.
Clock Tower Café, which she described as a “quiet café”, was selling homemade food at this festival, and she felt that the person who had broken in had seen them at the festival.
She added: “In the CCTV footage, you can hear him saying, ‘Where’s the cash?’, so it really feels like we were being watched.”
Following the incident, Ghouna has started a GoFundMe for the Clock Tower Café, aiming to raise £2,000 to cover repair costs, lost income, and strengthen security after break-in.
Anyone can donate on the GoFundMe website.
Ghouna described the support of the community as “really strong” and thanked everyone for their support.
She said: “We had to downgrade the quality of the glass because we couldn’t afford the type we originally had.
“The previous one cost around £3,000 to £6,000 if you wanted the double glazing and the really strong glass.
“All our remaining windows are still double-glazed and good quality, but for this one, we just couldn’t go for the same.
“We had to downgrade to something more affordable for our situation.”
Ghouna said the Clock Tower Café have faced years of challenges keeping the business going.
The café opened 11 years ago by her father after the war in Syria forced the family to rebuild their lives in the UK.
The owner’s father had run a successful business in Syria before it was affected by the conflict.
Using his savings, he decided to open the café so the family could support themselves.
Six years later, he became terminally ill and passed away.
After his death, the family worked to keep the café operating under the mother and daughter’s names.
The process of renewing the lease took a long time and placed financial pressure on them.
They said there were mistakes and delays in the process that left the business in a difficult position.
Ghouna added: “Anything that happens to the Clock Tower now, even losing a small amount of money, affects us deeply because we are already struggling.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called to a commercial address on Claremont Road, Surbiton at 07.28hrs on Tuesday, 30 September following reports of a break-in.
“Nothing has been reported as missing or stolen and no arrests have been made at this stage.
“Enquiries continue.
“If you have any information that could help police, please contact 101 quoting CAD 1130/30Sep.”
