A VEGAN café owner has spoken of his frustration after thieves took a banner advertising his business.

Bryan Burrow, who runs The Garden Café in Kendal with his wife Nicola, was shocked to discover the missing sign on Saturday morning-the day after they had cable tied the advert to the railings in Stramongate where other businesses also have banners.

He has played down claims that the business was targeted because it is a vegan establishment, although he said he has come across ‘hate speech against veganism’ online.

The incident has been reported to police.

“We’re not that visible in the courtyard of the Quaker Tapestry Museum so we thought we needed to up our advertising,” said Mr Burrow.

“I joked to my wife I hope it’s still there in the morning and of course it wasn’t.

“We’ve had a lot of support from a lot of local people and I’ve lived all my life in Kendal and it came as a bit of a shock.

“We were devastated.”

The couple, who have run the cafe for two and a half years, have now had to buy a new banner and are worried it may face the same fate.

“There’s a bit of anxiety,” he said.

“Wondering if it’s still going to be there.”

“We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve had no negativity,” said Mrs Burrow.

“We’ve been here since 2019 and had no issue.

“I don’t think it’s an anti vegan thing.

"It was upsetting, not just because of the cost but also who would have the mindset to do something like that?"

“We popped it up thinking nothing of it and it was shocking when it wasn’t there.”

A spokeswoman from Cumbria Police confirmed that police received a report of theft of a vinyl sign that had been placed on railings advertising The Garden Café.

She added: “The sign was removed by unknown person/persons between 5pm on the September 10 and 9am on September 11."