A Norwich convenience store has been held up for the third time in about two years, and the second time in just eight months.

The attacker then made his getaway on a bicycle.

Father-of-two Mohammed Harshim, 34, was working behind the counter at M&M Convenience Stores in Wingfield Road, off Oak Street, when a man entered the shop at about 3.15pm yesterday.

He said: 'The man left a push-bike outside and when he came in he took a large knife out. He walked behind the counter.

'He showed me the knife and told me to open the till. I refused, but when I was moving away from him, he came towards me and touched me with the knife in my stomach.

'That's when I got scared and I opened the till.

'He took the cash tray from under the till, but as he walked to the door some of the coins fell on the floor.

'I chased him outside and grabbed hold of the bike, but he managed to get away at speed down Oak Street towards the city centre. He said 'Don't follow me'.

'There was only about �150 in the cash tray.'

Mr Harshim, from Dereham Road, said the robber had white hair and was aged between about 45 and 50.

The store's owner, Subsh Karan, said it was the third time the store had been robbed in about two years.

He said: 'I get fed up with it, but what can I do? The previous two times we have been robbed the person who did it has been caught.'

It comes just eight months after a man with a handgun went into the M&M store in Wingfield Road and forced the shopkeeper to give him cash.

And in July, a 20-year-old man was threatened and a knife was pushed against his throat during a terrifying robbery at the Aylsham Road convenience store in Mile Cross, Norwich.

Detectives from Norwich CID are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to contact them on the police non-emergency number 101. Alternatively, information can be passed to police via the Crimestoppers charity by calling 0800 555111.