Thieves take cash from town gym

Thieves broke into a town gym at the weekend, and stole money stored in two cash tins kept on the premises.
Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTERShock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER
Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER

The break-in happened at Bruno’s Gym on Western Avenue, Market Harborough, on Saturday night / Sunday morning, March 4/5.

Gym manager Mark Guadagnini said: “It’s sod’s law that we had money on the premises that weekend.

“Through a series of different circumstances, there was more money on the premises than there would normally have been.”

Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTERShock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER
Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER

But he added: “From now on we will be keeping no cash on site here at all - absolutely zero.”

The popular gym, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in Market Harborough this year, was entered by burglars after the back door of the building was crowbarred open.

The stolen money was in two cash tins - a small blue cash tin and a medium-sized red cash tin.

Mark said: “We have very, very strong suspicions as to who has done this, and we’ve passed that informaton on to the police.”

Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTERShock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER
Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER

Police have long believed that a handful of local people, stealing to pay for their expensive drug habits, are responsible for most of the town burglaries

The gym, founded in 1977 by Mark’s father Bruno Guadagnini, will now work to increase security and ensure no cash is kept on the premises overnight.

Police say small businesses should prevent crime by:

* Creating barriers to slow criminals down. Criminals prefer speedy burglaries.

Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTERShock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER
Shock...Bruno Guadagnini founder of Bruno's Gym after the break-in at the Western Avenue premises. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER

* Teaching staff about their business’s crime prevention measures and how to make them work.

* Making sure no cash is left on premises overnight.

* Asking for bespoke anti-burglar advice from a police crime prevention officer.

The family-run Bruno’s Gym has about 80 members, who, says Mark, “are not all super-serious, but enjoy a workout and also enjoy the social side”.

A team from the gym won the Harborough Charity Truck Pull challenge when it was last held in the area, in 2015.