Staff at a food store were left shaken after a man burst in and threatened them with a knife.

The incident happened at Heron Foods on Welbeck Road, in Walker, Newcastle , at around 10.50am on Thursday.

Police say the offender demanded cash from staff but left the store empty handed. No-one was injured.

Now officers are appealing for information about the attempted robbery.

A spokesman said: “At 10.49am on Thursday, a man entered the Heron foods store in Welbeck Road and demanded that staff hand over cash.

“He is believed to have been armed with a knife however left the store empty-handed.

Police and forensics are on scene outside of Heron Foods Store on the corner of Welbeck Road and Leicester Street following an incident (Image: Claire McKie)

“Extra Officers are in the area carrying out inquiries and speaking to local residents and the public.

“Anyone who saw anything or anyone suspicious in the area around the time of the incident is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 321 08/09/16.”

Officers remained at the scene all morning, with forensics experts carrying out their inquiries inside the store and other officers checking CCTV images in the area.

The shop was closed for nearly two hours after the incident and a sign was put up on its front door saying “We are closed until further notice, sorry for any inconvenience caused.” It re-opened again at around 12.40pm.

Welbeck Road has a number of other businesses including bookmakers, hairdressers, sandwich shops, a fish and chip shop, pharmacy and pet shop, and people in the area said they were shocked by the incident.

One business owner said: “What happened is terrible, it’s an absolute disgrace.

“And it’s even more shocking that this happened in broad daylight. It would have been terrifying for the staff there.

“This is a busy road with lots of shops and I think there should be more police patrols here, especially in the run up to Christmas.”

Another shop manager added: “We didn’t see what happened but we saw around seven or eight police cars turn up. There were officers all over the place as well as police dogs. It was a bit of a shock to see this, we didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“It was only afterwards that we found out there had been some kind of incident at the Heron store. I just hope the staff are ok. This is not something you expect when you are just doing your job.”