Plumbing - Pub in toilet flood drama

02/05/2008

The importance of having a high-quality toilet and plumbing was revealed to a Bradford pub when it became flooded with sewage.

Drinkers in the Price of Orange pub, in Shelf, had to down their drinks and evacuate the bar when waste began to gush out of the bathroom.

Gallons of raw sewage backed out of the pub's toilets and immersed the entire bars after a street drain became blocked with cooking fat and other kitchen waste.

Pub licensee Malcolm Stevenson told the Halifax Courier: "We were having a normal night and suddenly one of the customers shouts me over and there's sewage, filth, excrement, everywhere, pouring out of the toilet, gushing into the bar, unstoppable."

He revealed that clean water had started coming through the cellar wall a couple of days before the waste began to pour of the toilet.

It is now feared that the pub could be closed for months and face an expensive clean-up bill.

Yorkshire Water told the paper it would reimburse the bar for its annual sewage charges and send contractors to help with cleaning operation as a "goodwill gesture".

In April, it was reported that Chinese authorities will change the design of the toilets at Olympics venues to make them more familiar to western athletes.