The owners of a popular restaurant have offered a £1,000 reward for useful information after their new premises was broken into.
Geisha, which serves Pan-Asian meals and cocktails, has become known as one of the most "Instagrammable" restaurants in Newcastle. Back in January, they announced that they would be expanding to venues across the UK after securing "significant investment".
As part of the expansion, they said they would be opening two new restaurants inside the former Casa Antonio building in Benton. Construction began on the eateries, which will be known as Geisha Asia and Geisha Italia Grill, last month.
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The business has now revealed that their new premises, located on Front Street, was broken into at around 5am on Wednesday morning and a lot of expensive power tools and other equipment were taken.
Geisha said that items stolen from the building include a Milwakee nailgun, planer, jigsaw, sander, multi-tool, leaf blower tool bag, Dewalt SDS drill, pistol drill and batteries.
They said they have managed to obtain CCTV footage which shows a white van at the scene, which they believe is responsible. However they said the video does not show the licence plate clearly.
The restaurant owners said the white van is distinctive as it has white bumper plates and white wing mirrors. They are offering a reward of £1,000 for information which leads to the identify of the driver of the vehicle.
They posted on social media: "Please get in touch with any information that will help find these people. We are working very hard to open two amazing new restaurants in the local area and the expense of these stolen items isn't what we need right now.
"If anyone in the local area has any CCTV they could check around the same time (4.45am-5.15am) which could help identify the van, please let us know!"
The original Geisha restaurant, located on Sandyford Road, has become popular with diners due to its Japanese garden inspired interior, which includes lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
It has been visited by Newcastle United defender Kieran Tripper, Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby and Love Island's Lillie Haynes.
Northumbria Police confirmed they are investigating the incident.
A spokesperson for the force said: "On Wednesday (March 1), police received a report that a number of tools were stolen from an address on Front Street, Benton in North Tyneside. It is believed the tools were stolen at approximately 5am.
"Enquires are ongoing into the theft and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or online, quoting crime ref 026158Q/23."
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