Police launched an investigation after a vegan cafe was targeted in an alleged hate incident.

Nottingham’s Crocus Cafe posted on Facebook to show how someone left a drawing of a penis on the back of a test and trace form, captioned ‘F*** you vegan bellends’.

They said their advertising board had also been doctored to read ‘Animal Unfriendly’ and stolen.

Workers at the cafe say they feel ‘threatened’ following the incidents, which they believe involved undergraduates from one of the city’s two universities.

Police are treating it as a ‘hate’ incident, while the universities have also launched investigations.

The cafe’s manager, Phoebe Thornton, said the first message was left on September 6.

Miss Thornton, 29, told Notts Live: ‘We picked up the form when they had left and noticed that they had drawn a (phallic shape) instead of writing their
details on.

‘The person who found it gasped when she found it – and she was really
upset.’

A week later, the group returned to the cafe, which is in a student area, and asked staff a series of questions including ‘Do you serve bacon?’, and ‘What’s the closest thing you have got to a bacon sandwich?’, before allegedly leaving another
‘similar’ note.

On September 27, an A-board was taken before being recovered a few
days later from a local garden.

It had been changed to say the cafe was ‘animal unfriendly’, instead of
‘animal friendly’ – and the word ‘love’ had been crossed out and replaced
with ‘hate’ in a sentence that originally read: ‘We love animals’.

Again, a drawing of a penis had been scrawled on the sign.

Following its recovery, the cafe wrote on Facebook: “So, after two delightful drawings were left by the student boys they then stole this – our A board! It was found in their back garden with these quippy alterations. They deny all involvement.’

The incidents were reported to Notts Police, as well as the University of
Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent University.

Sergeant Andrew Hallsworth said: ‘Notts Police take hate crime and incidents very seriously and will always look to take appropriate and proportionate action against those found to commit such offences.

‘Enquiries were made to establish the circumstances of these incidents. In this case, all parties involved were spoken to by an officer and a support programme has been put in place for the victim.’

No arrests have been made in connection with the investigation.

A University of Nottingham spokeswoman said: ‘We are very sorry to hear about the recent problems that have been experienced by the Crocus Cafe in Lenton, which is a wonderful resource for the whole community, including many of our students who both use the cafe and who have volunteered there in the past.

‘This is clearly unacceptable behaviour, and our off-campus team is investigating thoroughly to establish whether any University of Nottingham students were involved in these incidents.’

A spokesman for Nottingham Trent University said: ‘We have been made aware
of alleged student behaviour issues relating to a café in Nottingham and
are investigating.

‘All NTU students are made aware of the importance of being a good
neighbour and the impact they have on their local communities.

‘Any issues raised are taken very seriously and we take swift action where
our students may be in breach of our student code of behaviour.’

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