A young estate agent was shocked to find his new town-centre office window kicked in by a drunken yob.

Jack Smith, 22, has just taken on the Century 21 Praediis estate agency franchise, and had opened up in Mortimer Street on Thursday last week.

But when he arrived for work on Saturday morning he found his window had been boarded up following the criminal damage the night before.

Mr Smith, who travels to work in Herne Bay from Medway, said: “At first I thought that someone from the market had just put something up against the shop as it was a busy day.

“But then I saw the window was boarded up. When I saw the CCTV footage it was quite devastating. A man was running from the other side of the street and just kicked the window.

“Inside there was smashed glass the size of dinner plates. He really went for it. He must have really hurt himself to go through the glass. The neighbours in the flat above called the police.

“I asked the police officer about it, and they said he was clearly intoxicated, he had too much to drink and might have been taking out stress on the window.

“It now looks ridiculous as I have advertised properties above the office, but what would people think if they saw the damage? It’s potentially quite threatening for my business.”

The incident is believed to have taken place at 11.20pm on Friday night. It will cost Mr Smith as much as £800 to repair the window, and he will need to repaint the outside.

He said: “I was an estate agent before, but I started this franchise on my own so I can start to earn the rewards from what I do. So I was really cross because I’ve just launched the business. I think it’s just a one-off incident.”

Town centre councillor Andrew Cook said that during the spring there is often a spike in anti-social behaviour and reports of criminal damage.

He said he feared there may be more reports to follow, but that the police and council have operations in place to try to curb the crime rate.

A spokesman for the police confirmed an 18-year-old man was arrested shortly before midnight on May 8, and is on bail until June 16.