A drain cover was used to smash a window to break into Ashford’s Boots store.

Police were called to the Ashford town centre shop just before 9pm on Wednesday to reports a man was breaking into Boots.

Eye witness Will Fernee, 23, who lives above Pinkies salon in the town centre, said: “I heard banging and cracking outside, so I looked out my window towards Boots and I saw this man with what looked to be a sledgehammer.

“He went for the automatic doors first. One side got smashed and cracked but didn’t shatter to gain him entry. So he then went for the bottom right window of the manual doors. He smashed a hole and entered in side.”

After arriving at the scene, police searched and secured the shop. A 33-year-old man from Ashford was arrested in connection with the break-in and is currently in police custody.

Nothing was taken in the raid.

It is believed that Boots had people working in the store overnight to fix the doors to ensure that the shop could open as usual on Thursday.