Door of White Lion Street shop Butterfly smashed in Norwich

Butterfly Boutique, in White Lion Street, was subject to an attempted break-in last week after co-owner Natasha Cox arrived to find the shop's front door glass smashed.

Mrs Cox, who co-owns the clothes shop with her husband David, said: "I came in to open up as normal and all the glass was smashed in the door.

Butterfly Boutique clothes shop in White Lion Street (Image: Newsquest)

"I had to get someone in straight away to board it up and make it safe for customers while my husband reported it to the police.

"Thankfully the glass did its job and didn't fully break so whoever did it wasn't able to get into the store.

"I'm not sure how much it's going cost yet but we've got new, toughened, glass which is being fitted on Wednesday evening - but I know it's going to be hundreds of pounds.

The bottom of the shop's front door was cracked last week (Image: Newsquest)

"It's also the extra hours at the shop to get it sorted, so instead of being in London to buy stock for the shop I'll be here instead."

A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident was reported to them last Thursday.

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She said: "The incident occurred overnight between May 15 and 16 when the front door of a business premises in White Lion Street was smashed.

"Enquiries are ongoing."

Just around the corner from Butterfly, Castle Street bookshop Waterstones, had a till stolen after its doors were forced open during the early hours of Saturday.

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Mrs Cox added: "There doesn't seem to be anyone keeping an eye on the people stealing and I don't always feel safe.

Natasha Cox, co-owner of Butterfly, said you take something like this personally (Image: Newsquest)

"Police have been good in speaking to us about any issues but I'd like to see more bobbies on the beat around the city centre.

"It would immediately make me feel better.

"You take something like this personally but it does seem like there's been a spate of incidents recently."

Natasha said it would cost hundreds of pounds to repair the damage done (Image: Newsquest)