Directors of a community arts centre have been left reeling after thieves stole a day's takings.

Two bearded men accompanied by a young boy entered the Bank Centre in Eye and stole around £100 cash from the till.

Jules Talbot, one of the non-profit arts centre's founders, was in the centre on Friday when the men entered at around 4.50pm.

One man distracted a member of staff while the other went into the kitchen and swiped the money from the till.

Mr Talbot said: 'We do not really have any money to spare and things like this are not very helpful.

'We had our wage bill coming up – we needed to make a bit of money to get that covered.

'There were a couple of other people in the centre at the time, they instinctively thought something may be up but did not act on it. You try to think the best of people, but unfortunately this has happened.'

Suffolk Police have been informed and will be examining CCTV footage from the centre in Castle Street.

The Bank Centre opened in 2013 after its founders received a grant from Comic Relief. It is the only major grant the organisation has had and it relies on its daily takings.

Co-founder Christopher Parr said: 'As a community centre you try to be open to everyone, and when something like this happens it is disheartening.

'It is not a huge amount of money but for a non-profit organisation like us it is. For what we are trying to do it is a big hit.'

Mr Talbot said that since the incident there has been a 'huge influx of support' from the community.

'It has bizarrely been a very positive outcome from a very negative situation that left us in a bit of a hole.'

A Just Giving page has been set up to help the centre. Donate at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/the-bank-eye