Edinburgh cafe owner speaks out as 'sinister man targets her business at 1am'

Staff at the family-run Cafe Gallo in Edinburgh's Stockbridge have spoken out after claiming a vandal threw paint over their shopfront in what they believe could be a 'targeted attack'.

Workers at the business posted on Instagram on Monday that they were sickened to wake up the mess.

In a post, they wrote: "So this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning at our wee cafe… Some lowlife had gone to the bother of throwing a full pot of white gloss paint over our window, canopy and shopfront, not to mention the mess he’s made to the whole of Raeburn Place.

"This happened on Sunday morning 07/07/24 at around 1:40 am. If anyone has any information at all please let us know."

READ MORE - Midlothian man scoops life-changing National Lottery win and plans big holiday

READ MORE - GMB host Ed Balls in tears as she opens up on 'struggle' with his co-star

Owner Dellita Gallo spoke to Edinburgh Live about the ordeal and said she was worried the attack had been 'targeted'.

She said: "I'd love to think if someone had that much of a problem they would just say to us 'listen you've pissed us off.' I honestly have no idea. Completely baffled by it.

"It was on the Shelter Scotland shop CCTV - it was 1.39 am it happened. They were heavily dressed up and came from Port Gower place and along Raeburn place towards us.

"When they left they went back along to Port Gower's place towards Inverleith Park and left a pain trail all the way.

The owner spoke about the cleanup. She said: "It's been a nightmare, I've had to phone the council, and they are going to come along and get it off the pavement.

"It took us about three hours on Sunday morning to scrape it off with a scraper. It was gloss which is oil-based so it's not like we could even wash it off. It is all over the woodwork so I will have to repaint my shopfront. It's splattered all over the shop awning so will probably have to replace that, it's such a mess."

• Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

Dellita says: "People have been joking that it is another cafe or sandwich shop that has targeted us but I really don't think it is.

"We get on really well with all our neighbours, we have been here for almost six years, and it's not like we are the new boy in town and pissing anyone off. We are well established, we have been here for ages."

Both Dellita's sons work in her cafe with her. One of her sons reported the incident to the police on Sunday morning after a friend had passed early that morning and sent her a picture of the paint everywhere.

Delitta felt a bit uneasy about the whole incident. She said: "It feels really sinister. They have gone to so much bother, to leave your house at that time all dressed up.

"I presume they bought the paint - it looks like it is £30 worth of paint and to carry it all the way here after decanting it into a black bag it seems, throw it at the cafe and go off at that time.

"I can think of so many more interesting things to do at that time in the morning, could be sleeping or watching Netflix!"

Police Scotland have been contacted for comment.

Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox