A spate of burglaries targeting town centre businesses are being linked by police.

Thieves smashed a glass pane to break into homeware shop The Yard in the early hours of Saturday morning – the fourth business in Hitchin to be targeted in such a manner since May,

Once inside the building in Churchyard, burglars stole the shop till containing £40 and then dumped it in St Mary’s Churchyard.

Owner Rob Weavers, who also runs Mason Blanc in Bancroft, said: “This is a concern and particularly painful as an independent business. I lost a bit of trade on Saturday morning but, we were able to open as soon as the police had been. It is not pleasant especially after all the excess you pay and the clean-up you have to do.”

Police also confirmed that there was an attempted break-in at the Esso petrol station on Nightingale Road at about 2.20am on the same morning.

The two incidents follows a burglary at Hendersons in Churchgate, which occurred at some point overnight between June 18 and June 19.

A concrete block was used to smash a large window at the front of the newsagents, before offenders stole cigarettes from the counter.

Two men, both aged 38 and from Hitchin, have been arrested in connection with all three incidents.

In May the Comet reported a burglary at the Vinegar Hill store in Bancroft, where thieves forced their way through the back of shop and made off with a haul of items, including £800 in cash and more than 100 pieces of jewellery.

Detective inspector Amanda Bell said: “We believe that three of these incidents are linked and two people have been arrested as part of our ongoing investigations.

“I would like to reassure the business community that we take incidents such as these seriously and follow up all appropriate lines of inquiry to identify offenders and bring them to justice. Officers also work to prevent such crimes through dedicated patrols.”

Hitchin town centre manager Keith Hoskins said: “It has been an unfortunate spate but the cameras put in by the Hitchin BID company was instrumental in the arrest in the Hendersons incident. It is an ongoing investigation and one which I hope will be resolved soon.”