Either way, the staff at a Rutherford hotel got a pleasant surprise this week when they received a call from a thief who said there had been a mistake.

That 'mistake' was stealing an iPad and mobile phone from the prize cabinet at The Bradford Hotel on Monday night.

Ironically, the prizes were part of a loyalty competition.

The thief rang in the early hours of Wednesday and told staff the stolen items would soon be returned.

The call was made after the pub put out a plea for help on social media.

"We got a phone call at 12.15am (on Wednesday) saying there had been a mistake and it would be brought back by 1am," owner and licensee Neil Hedges said.

"It wasn't there at 1am so we rang the person and they said they were on their way back out of Sydney and it would arrive soon.

"At 3.30am it was placed in the garden."

When staff retrieved the items they were wrapped up as if they were going to be posted.

Mr Hedges believed they had been sold, or were about to be sold, on an online platform like eBay.

"Social media works," Mr Hedges said. "We've very glad to have the prizes back and it was good to get a result so quickly. I think because the pub has such a good name people were quick to get on the band wagon and share the post to help us."