Cafe owners are hoping for more CCTV cameras and regular police patrols following a stream of criminal damage.

Charbel Chami, who owns Yumy cafe, in Little Square, Braintree, and manager Kevin Gooday are fed up with drunken yobs causing havoc outside during a night out.

Overnight last Friday vandals smashed one of the cafe’s windows by throwing a Budweiser bottle through it.

It has cost Mr Chami £466 to replace the window as well as resulting in loss of trade because part of the outside seating area had to be cornered off on Saturday.

He claims vandalism in the area on Friday and Saturday nights is becoming a real problem.

Mr Gooday said: “We are always finding glasses smashed outside.

“On Sunday, I came to work about 8am and I panicked because all of the square was full of glass all around. It looked like people had a party of just smashing glass."