Locks were glued up at several shops and offices in Lampeter – causing chaos and costing hundreds of pounds in repairs and lost trade.

Businesses including Sainsbury’s, Barclays, Morgan and Davies Estate Agents and Jones Bros Butchers all had damage caused to their locks overnight on Wednesday, leaving them unable to open first-thing on Thursday.

The Black Lion was also broken into that night but the incident is not being linked to the others.

Tony Hall, of Jones Bros said staff were unable to gain access to the shop until 11am.

“We normally open at 6am,” he said. “Because we were unable to serve customers we probably lost £500 to £600 in takings and we had to put in a new lock as well.

“I thought at first we had been targeted by animals rights people until I heard other businesses had been affected.”

A spokesperson for Morgan and Davies confirmed they had also been targeted and had subsequently been forced to install new locks.

Speaking of the vandalism at their meeting, Lampeter Town Council condemned the actions.

Cllr David Smith said a number of traders had complained of finding that their locks had been superglued on arriving for work the following morning.

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now

• On Halloween night, businesses in Aberystwyth were also targeted by vandals who glued locks. Read our story here