Owner Xenia Schlangen of Café Taverne on the Bredaseweg in Tilburg was out of time this week when she was attacked by two masked men just after closing time. On the men’s room she was held by a man, while the other robber raged through the cafe. The owner remained unharmed, but the robbery has made a major impact on her.
With the weekend approaching, the café opens its doors again on Friday, but Xenia is not there with confidence.
Xenia was just recovering from the busy Wednesday evening in the cafe. Around half past two in the morning she closed her doors. “I always lock the front door first and then the back door. At the back door I saw a dark figure that tried to break open the inside of the gate with a crowbar,” she says.
The owner was shocked. “I screamed because I was so shocked. I quickly grabbed my phone and keys to get away through the front door, but he was too smart. I had to open the door,” says Xenia.
“He held my wrist all the time.”
The second robber went in at that time and grabbed the owner with her wrist. “I had to sit on the men’s room, so I couldn’t get away. He held my wrist all the time and said in English that I couldn’t scream. Their Dutch was very poor.”
The other man raced through the cafe at that time looking for valuables. “They asked about the safe and the safe key, but I don’t have it,” says Xenia. The owner was extra anxious because she was on her own. “My husband is an international driver and was in Italy at that time.”
When the robbers could not find a safe, Xenia suggested to open the cash register if she was allowed to stand behind the bar. “But they were not interested in that. They brought the envelope with the daily turnover and took a considerable amount in the office,” she says.
The owner does not want to lose what amount it is. “They also shaken my whole bag and brought some cash and my driver’s license from my wallet. Again they threatened that they would come back if I called the police.”
The owner was in the cafe the ten minutes later to make sure that the robbers were gone. “Then I called my husband and the police. They came immediately and recorded my report,” she says.
“It’s best to get back to work.”
Xenia is afraid that the men will come back, but does not want to be put off by the robbery. “We were closed on Thursday evening, but this weekend I will open again. It’s best to get back to work.”
Yet the shock is good at her. “For the time being I will not only stand behind the bar and close alone. I have to try that step by step, but I am still afraid.”
The hundreds of reactions that the owner on Facebook received from guests do her well to process the robbery. “It is unimaginable how bad people sympathize. That does me very well.”
The police say on Friday that they are still investigating the robbery and asks people who have seen or heard something to report.