Business owners working close to a supermarket targeted in a violent robbery say that they are ‘hardly surprised’ that it happened.

Sainsbury’s in Ongar was broken into and robbed by a gang of five balaclava-wearing men, yesterday, who put three staff members through a terrifying ordeal.

Surrounding traders, however, say that the store should have had security working at the time, due to the location of the shop.

Twenty-five-year-old co-owner of Central Electrics on the High Street, Callum Bennett, said that there is no need for surrounding businesses to panic.

He said: “If you go down there at night you will see it is cut off from everything. I’m not even that surprised. There should have been security working.

“Ten years ago Ongar was a much nicer place.

“I do feel really sorry for the people working there, though. How bad is it that it happened 150 yards away from a police station? That doesn’t look good, does it?”

After the staff, who were tied up and locked in a store room, managed to sound the alarm, the drama unfolded, waking people sleeping in The Cock Tavern.

Owners of the pub, which sits directly opposite the road entrance to the store, Mary and Ian Goodman, say that they were all asleep until the police began to arrive.

Mr Goodman said: “Our son and grandson were asleep in a room at the front of the pub. They didn’t hear anything until the police started turning up.

“They assumed it was a robbery, I think it might have happened before, just not on this large scale.

“I’m not surprised to be quite honest. If you go down there you will see that it just looks out onto fields. The front of the building has its back to the high street. It was probably targeted for that reason.”

Sainsbury’s has spoken only to confirm that staff are helping with a police investigation.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a serious incident took place at our Chipping Ongar store this morning. We are assisting the police in their investigation.”