A PUB boss says she has been left saddened by a brazen thief who stole artwork from their walls.

A handmade stained glass seahorse and two mirrors were stolen from the Golden Ball pub in Bishophill - York’s first community run watering hole - over the bank holiday weekend.

The pub acts as a makeshift gallery for local artists by displaying it in their Garden Room and sells pieces to customers.

Manager Beth Maguire believes the thief was not a regular visitor.

York Press:

She said: “It’s really sad someone would do this.

“They can tell it’s hand made and someone has gone to a lot of effort.

“We saw it was missing and when we realised nobody had paid for it we knew they had been stolen.

“They have literally lifted it off the wall and walked away with it.

“They have brazenly walked out of the pub and could have put it in a bag.”

The Golden Ball became a community co-operative four years ago and Mrs Maguire says there have been no acts of crime during that period apart from the theft of the artwork.

However, she now fears other artists may be put off from displaying their work after the incident.

“The artists price the work themselves and it’s pretty obvious they are for sale,” she added.

“I don’t want this to put people off putting things in the pub because that’s the whole point of what we do.

“It’s unlikely they would get any space in a gallery, but at the same time we want people to keep coming back.”