Local residents have rallied round to raise money after a Kennington urban beehive was stung by its fourth break-in in recent years.
Someone smashed a large window at Bee Urban, in Kennington Park, in May. The hole was big enough for someone to climb through but nothing was stolen from the inside.
“There was no sign that they were after the bees themselves”, head beekeeper Barnaby Shaw said. “Honeybee rustling is a real problem though, and it’s something we have to be aware of.
“We’ve got cameras, but they didn’t pick up on this at the time. I kind of assume the person who broke in got spooked and then went for whatever reason – whether or not it was the bees that scared them I don’t know. We’ve had a few break-ins recently, but it had been a good eighteen months since it last happened.”
Although the person who smashed their way in did not take anything with them, the break-in damaged some wooden joinery, meaning the repair job is more difficult, Mr Shaw said.
“Annoyingly the building has got quite a lot of windows,” he added. “The space was built fast and an extension was added on. But the extension windows never had any steel bars added in so it’s quite vulnerable.
“It’s incredibly frustrating to have to devote time to thinking about repairs when we just want to get on with our work,” Mr Shaw said.
The window has been tricky to replace because of the need to find a glazer who is also a joiner, so it is still boarded up weeks later. But a group of people living locally in Sutherland Square have raised some £600, which Mr Shaw said should cover all or most of the cost.
“I’d like to thank everyone who donated money – it will make a real difference,” he added.