A KNIFEMAN stormed into a bookmakers and demanded money from the till.

The man threatened workers in the Betfred in Lewes Road, Brighton, at 8.15pm on Thursday evening.

Shop workers described the man as white, 6ft and of slim build.

He was wearing dark trousers, a grey hooded top with the hood up and black trainers with white laces.

Staff stayed calm and the man eventually fled on foot empty handed.

Police said there were no injuries.

Amy Walters, 32, who lives just off Lewes Road, said: “I was shocked when I heard. I’ve been living here for six years now and the area has definitely got worse.

“A lot of trouble makers appear to hang around at The Level and then drift up Lewes Road and the surrounding roads.

“The incident on Thursday wasn’t even that late. It is worrying to be honest. I was walking down Lewes Road just a few minuted earlier. You never really known what is going to happen.”

A number of bookmakers have been targeted by criminals in Brighton and Hove over the last year.

In June a masked knifeman burst into the Betfred in Hollingbury Place, and threatened two female shop assistants.

They handed over cash from the till which he stuffed in a large black rucksack before fleeing.

Last month two men were jailed for a total of 16 and a half years for raiding a bookmakers and a newsagents in Worthing.

Liam Newman, 31, and Damien Gilbert, 23, both of no fixed address, carried out the raids in August 2016.

A team of detectives working on the robberies established they were connected. They gathered evidence from both scenes and began trawling through CCTV.

They then matched tattoos on Newman’s hands – the number 19 on one hand and 85 on the other, depicting the year he was born – to those on in the CCTV footage.

Anyone with information about the attempted raid on Thursday should call police on 101 quoting reference 1379 of 23/11.

Alternatively visit crimestoppers-uk.org.