A ROBBER brandishing a knife threatened staff at a Widnes arcade.

The man burst into Cashino in Albert Road, and terrified two workers and a customer.

He fled with a quantity of cash from the safe, running off towards the town centre.

It is the second time these premises have been targetted recently. Detectives suspect the two robberies are linked and are examining CCTV footage.

The raid happened in the early hours of yesterday morning.

DC Marc Roberts said: "Fortunately no-one was injured but staff were left extremely shaken by their ordeal. We take all incidents of this nature extremely seriously and are doing all we can to trace the offender.

"We are currently piecing together as much information as we can about the incident and we are appealing to members of the public for assistance.

"We are urging anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information, which might assist with our enquiries, to come forward.

"It is the second incident at the premises this month. We believe that both of these incidents are linked and are appealing to the pubic for help in tracing the offender.

"We would appeal to anyone who may have been in the town centre and saw anything significant to contact us.

"We are working closely alongside the business to offer reassurance and any security advice if needed."

Officers are currently carrying out house-to-house enquiries and forensic examinations.

The offender is described as white, around 5ft 11ins tall, of slim build, with curly brown hair and believed to be aged late teens/early 20s.

He spoke with a Liverpool accent and was wearing a blue/black waterproof jacket with the hood up and a scarf that was covering his face, grey trainers and dark coloured tracksuit bottoms.

Anyone with any information can call Cheshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 18 of 13 November or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.