The armed robbery took place on Wednesday afternoon at Coral in Columbia Road. Officers cordoned off the premises and a number of police cars were sent to the scene. A police helicopter was also overhead, searching for the men. Dorset Police said they were called at 2.17pm to reports of a robbery at Coral bookmakers in the mainly residential road.
Two men wearing black scarves and hooded tops entered the shop and stole a quantity of cash. A spokesperson said there were no customers in the shop during the incident and no members of staff were injured. Robert Stevenson, of B&C Domestics, one of the businesses opposite the bookmakers, said: “I’ve been here 23 years and it has been robbed before. This is the second time it has been done. It all kicked off around 2pm”.
The area immediately surrounding the bookmakers remained cordoned off by Dorset Police into the evening, allowing detectives and forensics officers to carry out their investigations.