Nottingham bar owners "knocked for six" by "extreme vandalism" are bouncing back after generous well-wishers raised more than £3,500 overnight for repairs.
Lauren Insley and John Rothera, who have been running The Chameleon together since 2017, were disappointed to discover the men's toilets and stairway had been attacked during a late night event on Friday (June 28).
"It was pretty much at the end of the night, most people had gone and [the organiser of the event] came down and said 'have you seen the bathroom?," co-owner John, 32, told Nottinghamshire Live.
"I thought it would just be some sick or something."
Instead in the urinals John found a sink had been ripped out of the bathroom wall resulting in flooding of the floor.
A live electrical cable had been pulled out of the window fan and there was also evidence of an attempt to yank a newly installed hand dryer off the wall.
Downstairs they found a smashed bulkhead light and they believe at least one neon sign is missing.
"The more we walked around the place the more we found, just pointless stuff," co-owner Lauren, 30, added.
Waiting two days, after working Saturday and John's birthday on the Sunday, they then posted details of the incident to the venue's official Facebook page on Monday (July 1).
In the post they said: "Our event on Friday night resulted in some pretty extreme vandalism which has knocked us for six a bit."
Lauren and John had no idea of the support to follow.
More than 200 people have now commented on the rant - as John calls it - offering help and kind words, inspiring the pair to set up a Go Fund Me page to raise some money towards repairs.
Unsure of the cost of repairs nor how much to ask for John called his mum for advice. Lauren said: "I was really nervous about it. I thought we'd not even get £300 and think nobody liked us."
Their target of £2,700 was smashed overnight and just 20-hours later the total was topping nearly £3,500.
The couple said they were unsure if they would be able to claim on their insurance.
John and Lauren, say the money will go towards making the venue - once the haunt of Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn - better and stronger than ever before with hops of tidying up the alley way leading to the venue.
They added that in celebration of meeting their goal they will aim to set up a week of free gigs and nights, probably in February, where everyone can come down and "party hard into the wee hours to celebrate".
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