Vandal attacks glass door of Brazz in Taunton with chairs

During the incident lasting more than a minute and a half, he battered the door of Brazz around 20 times and gestured at people having breakfast inside the building before moving away.

At one stage he stopped and peered inside the premises before continuing his assault on the building in Castle Bow.

In video footage of the incident shortly before 7.30am people can be seen walking along the nearby North Street in the town centre and a passer-by is seen walking behind the offender.

We have pixelated the face of the culprit in the video for legal reasons.

Ronan Hunter, director and general manager at The Castle at Taunton, of which Brazz is a part, said: "This morning our team have had to deal with a frightening and upsetting situation whereby a man has repeatedly smashed our glass doors with a metal chair.

"Thankfully nobody was hurt, neither our team nor our guests, but obviously a few have been a little shaken up.

"Whilst this is the first time such damage has been caused, it is a regular occurrence that we must replant the boxes outside Brazz, with the trees being uprooted over a weekend.

"We also have for years had the issue of anti-social behaviour on Castle Green that impacts ourselves and The Museum of Somerset."

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson said: "An arrest has been made following a criminal damage incident at a premises in Taunton.

"We were called at about 7.25am today (Monday, August 7) after a man was reported to have picked up furniture items and thrown them at a glass window in the Castle Green area.

"Police attended and arrested a 32-year-old man, who remains in custody.

“Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.

"Witnesses or anyone with footage of the incident can contact us online or call 101 and quote reference number 5223189368.”

Mr Hunter added that he is disappointed by the "lack of engagement" with Taunton Town Council "despite repeated complaints raised and attempted discussions".

He said: "Fairly soon after the formation of the new council we had opportunity to mention the issues to Cllrs Tom Deakin and Nick O’Donnell.

"I was promised a formalised meeting to discuss the issues, yet nothing has happened.

"The council really need to take the issues faced by many businesses and visitor destinations seriously if they wish to take Taunton forward.

"Whilst lighting up buildings, installing rows of umbrellas or putting oversized deckchairs around may provide selfie and photo opportunities, they do little in the way of actually solving the real problems.

"As always, we are ready to engage and work with the council, as we did over the Coronation when our business was severely impacted by the closure of Castle Green, but again at that time we offered support to the plans.

"Hopefully someone will take the opportunity now to reach out and offer up some workable solutions to this repeating issue. The ball is very much in the council's court.”

A council spokesperson said Cllr Deakin "briefly" discussed anti-social behaviour with Mr Hunter in May and offered him "a conversation" with the council, although there has been no contact since.

Cllr Deakin said: “The anti-social behaviour in Castle Bow this morning is appalling.

"Our new town council was elected on a manifesto commitment to invest in the town centre.

"As a town council we remain committed to bringing forward an improvement strategy and continuing to support our town centre as a safe and desirable place to shop and socialise, however, it is important that we allow Somerset Council and Avon and Somerset Police to fulfil their roles.”