‘We feel violated’: Southsea Spirit owners 'overwhelmed' at support after bar ransacked in robbery

Southsea has rallied around two sisters after their neighbourhood bar was broken into, with hundreds of messages of solidarity.

Harriet Scutt, co-owner of Southsea Spirit, was horrified to witness her independent bar being ransacked on her mobile alarm system in the early hours of Wednesday morning (October 7).

The mum-of-one, who owns the bar with her sister, Charlotte, awoke with her one-year-old to see CCTV show a person in the bar and police officers arriving at the scene.

Later that morning she went to the scene and was joined by police and forensic officers, who are now investigating the robbery which caused damage to the building and saw stock pinched.

But, she said “something good has come out of it” after hundreds of people showed their support with messages and kind words.

Harriet said: “We have just been completely overwhelmed with the support we have received. We have hundreds of messages from customers, businesses and people who don’t even know us, and it has restored our faith after one person’s terrible behaviour and it has reminded us why it is so important to be part of Southsea.

“I think the hardest thing for me is the hospitality industry is so tough now. It was just one person who took stock but it is also the damage they caused to the building but we are so grateful to be part of Southsea independents.

“We feel violated just seeing that happen to the business, it’s devastating. If I’m realistic about things, it could have been a lot worse, they could have done a lot more damage so we were lucky.”

Despite the break-in, the sisters refused to let it stop them from opening for their Southsea Sound open mic night on October 7, welcoming customers just hours after the building was secured.

Harriet continued: “Something good has come out of it because all of Southsea has shown up for us and I am so grateful for what people have done. We had people come in last night to support us and I got a call from a lady who has never met us and she said she was so sorry for us.

“We just have to build ourselves back up and put on a brave face.”