"It's just crushing - I was in tears on Sunday night and thought that's the end of us."

Those are the words of Tom Peters, owner of Waterside Antiques, after two masked men used a van to rip out the Ely shop's front window before using crowbars to smash through seven cabinets and steal gold worth tens of thousands of pounds.

"They have taken literally all of our stock - apart from silver," he said, adding that the value of the stolen items is around £100,000.

Residents at a neighbouring property, however, managed to alert police, film what was happening and take down the registration plate of the van.

Officers arrived on the scene within 20 minutes and, thankfully, the building's structure remained intact despite the damage caused.

The next morning, Mr Peters - who has owned Waterside Antiques for more than 20 years - let some of the dealers in to empty the cabinets of what was left.

"I rent out spaces to 90 people and thought they would pull out, but they've been brilliant," he said.

"A lot of them have said they're sorry for me and are sticking with me, which means I can thankfully stay afloat."

(Image: Stephen Seymour) However, he said that for some, "that's their livelihood gone - it has wiped them out.

"It's the worst time of year for them, but it's down to the kindness of other people that we're still here. 

"We're just trying to keep soldiering on," he said, adding that "yearly, we get a cabinet broken into - but that's during the day." 

Now a week on from the break-in, Mr Peters has thanked local residents and business owners for chipping in and helping out with the clean up after the break-in.

(Image: Stephen Seymour) "Everyone has been amazing in getting us back up and running," he said, adding that the shop only closed for one day.

He also praised his 77-year-old father who made a new window from scratch and local company N&C Glass for working to a reduced rate.

"We all just got it done and ploughed through it. It was a real community effort and goes to show that there are still plenty of proper decent people." 

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said: "We responded to a report of a burglary at Waterside Antiques, Ely at 11.47pm on Sunday September 22.

"A quantity of jewellery was stolen from the premises. We can confirm that two men wearing balaclavas were seen leaving the scene."

In June this year, £2,500 worth of a dealer's stock was stolen from the same shop.