Robbery and serious crime squad detectives charge Wallsend man over gun robbery of Iron Horse Hotel at Cardiff

Specialist detectives investigating two pub robberies have arrested a man in connection with the holdup of the popular Iron Horse Hotel just after midnight on Tuesday.

A man has been charged over a late-night Cardiff pub robbery where two workers were allegedly threatened with a gun and a meat cleaver.

Robbery and serious crime squad detectives orchestrated three simultaneous raids on Tuesday night following the holdup of the Iron Horse Hotel in the early hours of Tuesday.

Police allege two masked men, one armed with a handgun and the other a meat cleaver, stormed the Main Road hotel about 12.20am and threatened the male and female employees.

Police were told the pair left the pub in a blue coloured Ford Falcon sedan after stealing a cash register.

The workers, a 25-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man, were shaken but not injured during the alleged robbery.

Police allege two masked men were armed with a handgun and a meat cleaver when they stormed the Iron Horse Hotel about 12.20am on Tuesday. Picture: Google maps

Detectives from Strike Force Hawksview, set up to investigate the violent armed robbery at the Boatrowers Hotel at Stockton on December 28, took over the investigations into the Iron Horse Hotel incident.

Investigations led to a series of late-night raids at Wallsend, Maryland and New Lambton on Tuesday night.

Detectives allegedly seized a blue Ford Falcon, a motorcycle, ammunition, clothing, a firearm part, a small amount of ice and “other items relevant to the investigation,” police said.

A 32-year-old man was arrested at the Wallsend address and taken to Newcastle police station where he was charged with five offences, including robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, possessing a prohibited drug, acquire a firearm part without authority, drive while disqualified and use a prohibited weapon without a permit.

Police allege the man was one of two men responsible for the Iron Horse Hotel robbery.

He was refused bail and briefly faced Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday where he was formally refused bail.

He will next appear in Toronto Local Court on February.

No charges have been laid in relation to the Boatrowers Hotel robbery and investigations continue.