An Ipswich businessman said he will not be deterred from doing things to benefit his community after an attempted break in at his shop.

Ozzie Bozdag, of Codfellas, on Greenfinch Avenue in Chantry was disturbed to discover an abandoned hammer and balaclava in the shop's doorway in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A neighbour had become suspicious after seeing lights outside the property, and called the police.

At 6am the next morning, Ozzie arrived at the shop, and noticed that a door to the shop was open.

“That first door is shared between me and my neighbour, so I didn’t think anything of it,” explained Ozzie. “But as soon as I walked through, I saw the balaclava and hammer.

“I had a massive shock. When I saw that stuff on the floor, my legs were just broken. I had to hold onto the wall. I thought, well, it’s game over.”

Ozzie tries to utilise technology at Codfellas, and was worried that it had all been stolen.

“The reason we have all this technology is to help my staff, as well as the customers,” he explained. “It’s to keep the waiting times down as much as possible – we don’t serve anything that isn’t fresh. That’s a golden rule.”

However, when Ozzie tried to push open the door to Codfellas, it stayed shut.

“I had such a smile on my face. Something had happened, and the thief couldn’t get through.

“When you are successful, people don’t like it. I do lots of things as well as running a business – I want to be remembered as someone who does things for his community. But unfortunately, some people don’t get that, and they get jealous.

“But this won’t stop me – if I was doing ten things before, now I’m going to do 20!”

A spokesperson from Suffolk Police said: “Police received a report of an attempted burglary at Codfellas in Greenfinch Avenue, occurring at some time between 11pm on 16 July and 6.30am on 17 July, whereby a lock mechanism was tampered with. No entry was gained.

“Anyone with information about the incident should contact the Crime Coordination Centre via email: CCC@Suffolk.police.uk or by dialling 101, and quoting reference: 45512/22.”