Vandals in Halloween masks who glued up locks of several businesses along Aberystwyth’s Great Darkgate Street have been slammed for their actions.

At around 10pm on 31 October, vandals superglued the door locks of Greggs, Costa, Caffè Nero, Starbucks, Santander, Halifax, Barclays and Nationwide.

Police have said that CCTV footage revealed two of the culprits were wearing Halloween masks.

Most of the businesses were unable to open for several hours, causing inconvenience for customers and staff.

The manager of Greggs, Angie Powers, said: “I’m disappointed businesses are being attacked in this way, especially when you’re just trying to provide a service. We’re here from 4.30am every morning to prepare.

“This attack was definitely malicious; they knew what they were doing.”

Ms Powers received a call from the supervisor at 6am, informing her that the lock had been glued shut. Fortunately, due to the entrance being a slide door, they were still able to open as normal.

Ms Powers said that Greggs were able to provide refuge for other business employees while they waited for the issue to be resolved.

Barclays, in a statement, said that the branch was unable to open that morning due to the incident, but was open for business as usual by 12.15pm.

Nationwide also confirmed that they were impacted by the vandalism but that the repair work was completed and the branch open by the afternoon of 1 November.

A spokesperson for Santander said: “Our Aberystwyth branch was temporarily closed following an incident affecting a number of businesses on the high street.

“The branch has since reopened and we look forward to welcoming customers back in store.”

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition tomorrow