CUSTOMERS and staff had a shock when an elderly man took a tumble and smashed straight through a busy cafe’s main High Street window.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the lunchtime incident at Ross-on-Wye’s Ginger Nut cafe last Wednesday (February 2), which has since seen the front of the cafe boarded-up pending a replacement window.

Owner Laurence Olnois said: "An elderly customer was just leaving the cafe when he accidentally fell into the pane, smashing it.

"We’ve just done a refurb with a new floor and now the front is boarded up which is obviously affecting business, but the main thing is the poor man wasn’t injured.

"I think he lost his footing and stumbled and fell and there was a mighty crash.

"The cafe was full at the time and everybody was a bit shocked, but we rushed to help him and he was OK, thank goodness."

Laurence, from Newent, and her daughter Maegan took over the former Pots and Pieces Teashop last April and reopened as The Ginger Nut.

"It’s a bit of a setback as we’ve just had the floor done, and we’re waiting for the insurers to come and assess the damage before we get the window replaced," added Laurence.

The cafe, which is open from 10am to 4pm, reopened the day after the incident, and invited customers to come and hear the story of what happened over a cup of coffee, posting a photo of the boarded-up window and saying: "It wasn’t an explosion, everyone is fine!"

The new owners took over last year from David and Sara Bruce who ran Pots and Pieces for 13 years.