Sila and Virginia Cedeira Vilar were ready to pack up and walk away from the business they had spent over a decade building in the heart of north London. Operating Volare, their neighborhood restaurant in Bounds Green, had become an exercise in quiet exhaustion. Since opening their doors in 2015, the two sisters from Baiona, Spain, had weathered nine separate burglaries, including two in 2026 alone. The cumulative physical and emotional toll pushed the restaurateurs to seriously consider selling the establishment and leaving behind eleven years of neighborhood history.
A Late-Night Break-In That Shattered More Than Glass
The breaking point arrived in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, October 22, 2026. At around 2:00 a.m., an intruder attempted to smash the restaurant’s storefront window with a metal bar without success. The individual returned three hours later armed with a large potted plant, hurled it through the glass, and wedged his upper body through the opening. In roughly thirty seconds, the burglar made off with the cash register drawer. It was entirely empty. The culprit abandoned the drawer in a nearby street later that morning.
Virginia Cedeira Vilar cleared away the shattered glass, contacted the local tradesman who had patched up previous damages, and reopened Volare in time for lunch service. While replacing the storefront window cost several hundred pounds, the deeper fracture was purely psychological. The sisters expressed frustration when police initially informed them that officers would not be dispatched for a commercial burglary. Following complaints from local residents, two police cruisers finally arrived the next day.
When a Bounds Green Customer Refused to Let Go
On Sunday, October 25, regular patron Joe Arditti stopped by the restaurant to pick up pizzas. After learning about the recent break-in, Arditti expressed his dismay and floated the idea of organizing a community fundraising initiative to support the sisters. The Cedeira Vilar sisters thanked him for the kind gesture but declined the offer. They felt that eleven years of loyal patronage was already all the backing they could ask for. Having neighbors walk through their doors, sit at their tables, and trust their kitchen remained the ultimate endorsement.
Arditti bypassed their objections entirely. He launched an online crowdfunding campaign from his home, and within ten hours, contributors had funneled 4,800 euros into the pool. Contributions continued to roll in from 248 separate donors, many giving modest sums between 24 and 60 euros, until the total reached nearly 7,900 euros. Virginia recalled that she had never experienced such a profound wave of solidarity in her entire life. Overwhelmed by the response from patrons who had visited their tables weekly for a decade, both sisters broke down in tears and asked for the fundraiser to be halted.
From Pandemic Resilience to National Television
The neighborhood bond was forged long before the autumn of 2026. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sisters sustained their operation by delivering pizzas and croquetas directly to local doorsteps, cementing a relationship with the Bounds Green community that outlasted the global health crisis. That foundational goodwill ultimately shielded them when disaster struck.
The story soon transcended local boundaries, capturing the attention of national media when British broadcaster ITV News aired a segment on the restaurant’s plight. This wave of public backing echoed a harrowing chapter from November 2021, when another break-in resulted in the theft of the staff tips jar right before the restaurant’s oven chimney broke down. Repairing the chimney cost upward of 24,000 euros, forcing a month-long closure that contributed to total losses nearing 100,000 euros. During that crisis, a dedicated customer launched a campaign that raised 3,000 euros to soften the blow.
Rolling Up the Shutters and Returning the Love
Using a portion of the funds collected by Arditti’s recent drive, the sisters invested in a heavy-duty metal security shutter valued at approximately 2,150 euros. Eager to return the affection, they organized a Thank You Fiesta on Sunday, November 1. More than 300 people descended on the restaurant for a three-hour celebration featuring three local musical acts, Neapolitan pizzas, croquetas, calamares, chorizo in wine, and drinks.
Children arrived bearing handmade greeting cards, while neighbors reiterated their desire for the sisters to stay put. Alongside team member Davide in the kitchen, the overwhelming community response forced the Cedeira Vilar sisters to scrap their plans to sell Volare. Reflecting on a decade of trials and deep-seated neighborhood ties, Virginia noted that they discovered an extended family in north London. Looking back at the day they opened in 2015, she insists she would make the exact same choice all over again.
