A guilt-stricken, self-styled ‘Flower Pot Bandit’ sent a ‘sorry for your loss’ card complete with £20 to a pub after he was caught drunkenly swiping a plant pot on CCTV.
Kevin Barber, who owns Northern Monkey in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, was ‘shocked’ to discover a customer had nicked an artificial plant within a day of him putting it out.
CCTV footage from a fortnight ago shows the ‘drunk’ thief who signed the card ‘Mr. Flower Pot Bandit’ grabbing the LED-lit decoration from a garden table and sauntering away.
The pub posted a lighthearted Facebook plea for the mystery man to return the £8 item and five days later staff found a remorseful condolence card with £20 inside.
It read: ‘I’m so sorry for the loss of your light up table display. I’m afraid I may have had one too many of your lovely beers.
‘If I could return it I would but I’m not sure as to where it ended up.
‘I hope the money compensates for your loss.
‘Yours sincerely sorry, The Flower Pot Bandit.
‘P.S. I promise not to do it again.’
Kevin, 55, says he found the whole situation ‘hilarious’ and has now asked his brewers to create a new beer called ‘The Flower Pot Bandit’.
Kevin said: ‘I’d put [the plant pots] out that day and they looked really quite nice outside but then a member of staff said a lady just noticed a guy stealing one.
‘I went to the CCTV and there he was, it was really brazen and he literally didn’t even try to conceal it. I was shocked.
‘He left and then minutes later you see him walk back, grab one blatantly in front of everybody and just wander off with it.
‘You can see everybody just watching him walk off, he was clearly very brave.
‘The staff knew who he was because he’d been drinking there all day.
‘I straight away saw the funny side of it and thought it was hilarious because the guy was clearly drunk. He was just having a laugh.
He added: ‘Nothing turned into something – really quite funny on both sides and now we’re about to brew a beer named ‘The Flower Pot Bandit’. It’s crazy.’
Earlier this week, the team shared the new ‘floral IPA strutting in at a zesty 5%’ after the ‘whole town got in on the action, rallying to bring this brew to life’.
The anonymous plant pot pilferer is believed to have been drinking one of Northern Monkey’s strongest beers – the 6.5% alcohol Boats ‘n’ Hose.
Kevin didn’t report the incident to police and, given the pot only cost £8 to replace, he put the spare ‘compensation’ in the staff’s tip jar.
Kevin said: ‘He had been drinking one of our stronger beers so we put a message out saying he’s clearly had too many of our Northern Monkey finest beers.
‘I was thinking ‘I don’t want to cause too much of a problem for the guy.
‘No doubt he’s just had a drink, we’ve all done it’.
‘I think it was about five days later one of the staff came in and said there was an envelope through the front door with this card with a brilliant passage on it saying he regretted what he had done and was really sorry for the inconvenience.
‘It was very good compensation. I was considering posting a message asking him to come back for his £12. I actually put £12 in the staff tips.’
Pub and brewery owner Kevin revealed they’ve replaced the decoration and it has now become a ‘funny story’ that’s inspiring a new brew.
Kevin said: ‘The bottom line is, we’ve all had a drink and pinched a glass.
‘It was no big deal but we now have this really funny story and everyone has suggested that we brew a beer called The Flower Pot Bandit.
‘All I’m worried about now is whether he comes again and the rest of our plant pots go missing.
‘We don’t want people to think that’s now an excuse to rob our plant pots.’
Kevin’s Facebook post calling for the decoration to be returned said: ‘Hey there, Mr. Flower Pot Bandit!
‘We noticed you made a sneaky return to snatch one of our fabulous light-up flower pots from the table.
‘We love sprucing up the outdoors with pretty things, but stealing isn’t part of the plan! It really puts a damper on our decorating vibes.
‘We’re pretty sure you can splurge on your own pot, so how about you return ours ASAP? Thanks a bunch!’
One user commented: ‘He probably woke up with it in his bed. We’ve all done it, haven’t we?’
Another user said: ‘Flower Pot Bandit is a great name for a beer.’
A third user said: ‘Funniest thing I’ve read all week.’
