Men who launched a beer keg through the window of a Perth city centre pub, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, have been asked to come clean.
Bosses at the popular Twa Tams bar said they were “heartbroken” to discover the mess left behind after Saturday night’s attack.
The five young men involved were all captured on CCTV.
But co-owner Sandy Stirton is now giving them an opportunity to turn themselves in and help pay for repairs, and hopefully avoid a conviction.
The Scott Street establishment, which earlier this year launched a crowdfunder appeal to help it survive the pandemic, was first struck just before 8.20pm.
The group entered the grounds of the pub through a front gate and tried to help themselves to some beer kegs.
Popular Perth pub The Twa Tams launches crowdfunder to make it through Covid-19
When they discovered the barrels were empty, one of the men hurled one through the front door, shattering an ornate stained glass window.
The group took to their heels, but one man came back and threw another keg at beer garden window.
Twa Tams has now made a public appeal for the men to come forward and discuss how they can pay for the damage.
If there is no response from all members of the group within three days, proprietors say they will hand over CCTV footage to police, as well as the kegs which are covered in fingerprints.
‘My heart just sank’
“We are absolutely devastated,” said Mr Stirton.
“When I was told about this on Sunday, my heart just sank.
“It’s not what we would expect in this area of Perth. We’ve certainly never had any issues like that before.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt and despite their efforts to steal some of our kegs, they never actually made off with anything.”
The pub had closed its doors in November for a refurbishment. Work has been carried out by Mr Stirton and other staff throughout lockdown.
But some work at the front of the establishment will now have to be redone.
Mr Stirton said: “We recently upgraded our CCTV system so we have high-definition shots of everyone involved.
“It’s very easy to identify them.
“They all ran off when one of the guys threw a keg at our front door, but then one of them came back a few minutes later to throw another keg through our walkway window.
“We want to sort this out in an amicable way. We are waiting for them all to get in touch and discuss how we can sort this out. I understand that sometimes young lads get drunk and do silly things.
“Everyone has had a tough time of it because of the pandemic, and we know that people will be looking for some kind of release but this is unacceptable.
“We do understand that this isn’t something they would normally do in their day-to-day lives though, so we are willing to speak to them.”
Stained glass window could be lost
Mr Stirton said the incident has been reported to police.
“If we aren’t contacted by those responsible we will be proceeding with legal action,” he said.
“But if they do come forward and sort out the situation themselves, we won’t be looking to follow any legal recourse.
“We now have to get our stained glass window replaced, and I don’t know if we’re going to be able to afford to do that.
“We might have to get a regular window put in there in the meantime.
“It is really disappointing, because we have been working very hard to get ready for reopening.
“Annoyingly, we had just finished repainting the inside of the front door before this happened, so now a fair portion of that will have to be redone.
“We are very hopeful we will be back open soon. Myself and one of the other owners have been in while its been closed, working on a refurbishment, so that it is all ready to welcome people back.”
A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed that enquiries were ongoing.