Bars and restaurants are accustomed to dealing with glasses being stolen, but one downtown pub was stunned when a patron recently swiped a large decorative sword and shield.
Donaleigh’s Irish Public House posted earlier this week about a brazen theft from its establishment that occurred last weekend.
Footage from a security camera was posted by the bar on its social media accounts, showing three men sitting at a table until one of them takes down a large decorative item that is shaped like a shield with fake swords.
The man conceals it and, while the video cuts off before he leaves, Donaleigh’s owner Steve Ricalis told BarrieToday the man did indeed take off with the item.
“Not sure how he got it out of there. It isn’t small,” said Ricalis. “But I guess if you want to find a way, you will.”
Donaleigh’s, located at 28 Dunlop St. E., has the feel of a traditional Irish pub and has several decorations and memorabilia to help foster that atmosphere.
“Funny enough, there is only one thing fastened down in the whole place and I had to recently do it, and that's the Mona Lisa holding a Guinness,” said Ricalis. “And someone tried to steal that the same night as this other theft.”
He said he wasn’t angry, and stressed he held no ill will against the person who stole the shield.
“You can’t hold grudges like that. He saw the video, came back with his head down and apologized. In this business, you tend to have people getting a few drinks in them and making a poor decision like that,” said Ricalis. “But it’s not easy to get away with that stuff now with cameras everywhere and the power of the internet.”
Once the item was returned, the bar took the video down and issued a statement letting people know everything was back in place.
But Ricalis said no items on the walls are worth anything of value, not like the other items that regularly go missing.
“Most of the stuff was either picked up cheap, donated or brought from my home. The truth is we have our glassware stolen all the time and that actually costs us more money than anything to replace,” he said.
“I don’t think people consider that when they want a glass as a keepsake, but it does end up hurting us as a business when that happens.”
