Bristol pub's underground toilets damaged during roadworks
It is understood that contractors missed the cellar when a ground penetrating radar survey was conducted before work to pedestrianise Princess Victoria street began."Luckily I was the only person in the building when I heard the crash, I went to the bathrooms to look and I could see daylight coming through and contractors looking down," Mr Rowell said.The damage and subsequent water leaks mean the building has no functioning toilets and patrons have to use two portable toilets."My business relies on goodwill and of repeat and returning customers and giving them a premium and enjoyable experience and as soon as they come to need to use the facilities, the fact that they're not there has been a big issue," he said.
Mr Rowell said there was a "lack of urgency" over the repairs, and "a level of passing the buck to the next person or the next department".He estimated internal repairs would take two days, but that could not happen until the road above was also fixed.Councillor Ed Plowden, chairman of Bristol City Council's Transport and Connectivity Committee said: "We accept that we need to put it right and have provided two portable toilets on site for The Quadrant customers to use until the remedy works have been complete."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why Man United were made to wait to agree fee for key transfer target
Manchester United are close to finalising the signing of Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford in a deal potentially worth up to £71m. The agreement includes an initial payment of £65m, with an additional £6m in performance-related add-ons. Mbeumo, who netted 20 Premier League goals last season, had made it clear that Old Trafford was his preferred destination, despite interest from Newcastle and Tottenham. This transfer represents a club record sale for Brentford and will be the most significant acquisition under Ruben Amorim 's tenure at United. The deal was secured after weeks of negotiations, with United submitting a third offer to meet Brentford's valuation, which was benchmarked against other recent player sales.
Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Notting Hill tote bag designer loses High Court copyright claim
A designer who created a Notting Hill tote bag once presented to the Princess of Wales has lost a High Court claim against two brothers she accused of copying her designs. Natasha Courtenay-Smith sued Nangialai Takanai and Ehsanullah Takanai over claims they copied her design bearing the words 'the Notting Hill shopping bag' in an attempt to pass themselves off as being part of her brand. Lawyers for Ms Courtenay-Smith told a hearing in London in April that the men's actions were 'parasitic', adding that her design had been presented to Kate on a visit to Portobello Road and had been featured in 'high-profile media publications' such as Mail Online, OK! Magazine and the Sunday Mirror. The two men, who have been selling two designs with the words 'the Notting Hill shopper bag' and 'the Camden Town shopping bag', denied copying the logo's designs and passing off, claiming that Ms Courtenay-Smith's design is 'devoid of distinctive character'. In a ruling on Friday, Francesca Kaye, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, ruled that the 'level of creative freedom' used to create Ms Courtenay-Smith's design was 'low', meaning the amount of copyright protection it could receive was 'correspondingly low'. She said: 'Given the nature of the artistic copyright work and those features that were relied on as giving rise to the copyright as setting the logo apart as a creative work, I am not satisfied that the defendants have in fact copied a substantial part of the copyright work. 'Given the low degree of creativity, the scope of the protection conferred by the copyright is correspondingly narrow, and on the basis of a qualitative assessment, I am not satisfied that these are close copies. 'The defendants are not, therefore, liable for copyright infringement by their use of the defendants' signs.' In a 53-page judgment, the judge also ruled that the trademark of Ms Courtenay-Smith's logo, which was registered in 2013, had expired and had not been infringed. At the hearing earlier this year, Joshua Marshall, for Ms Courtenay-Smith, told the court his client had been selling her 'unique' design, which has 'proven to be incredibly successful and has become iconic'. He described the two men's design as a 'sleight of hand', adding that the reason they chose the word 'shopper' instead of 'shopping' was to make it 'different enough to avoid a claim of counterfeit'. Jamie Muir Wood, for the two businessmen, said in written submissions that the average consumer 'will notice the difference between the Notting Hill word sign and the logo, namely the replacement of the word 'shopping' with 'shopper'. He said: 'Whilst there is similarity between the signs, given the differences between them and the fact that the average consumer will distinguish between them, no misrepresentation will occur. 'Accordingly, there can be no damage.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Reform's war on net zero plans will cost one million jobs, Labour say
Reform UK 's 'war' to net zero will cost almost one million jobs, energy minister Michael Shanks has claimed. Mr Shanks and Labour stepped up their attacks on Nigel Farage 's party by saying Reform's opposition to net zero amounted to a 'war on jobs'. He added that working people 'would lose jobs and opportunities if Farage's party was ever allowed to impose its anti-jobs, anti-growth ideology on the country'. His comments come after Reform deputy leader Richard Tice wrote to energy companies urging them not to invest in the latest round of green energy contracts, known as Allocation Round 7 (AR7). Mr Tice said he had put the companies on 'formal notice' that their investments were 'politically and commercially unsafe' as a future Reform government would seek to 'strike down all contracts signed under AR7'. But he later told the BBC that Reform would not renege on contracts, only oppose any 'variation'. Mr Shanks called the letter an 'energy surrender plan that would leave bills high for families and businesses, keeping the UK stuck on the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets'. Labour also pointed to estimates from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which suggested the net zero sector now supported 951,000 jobs across the country. That figure includes almost 138,000 jobs in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber, areas where Reform has enjoyed electoral success including in this year's Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest and Mr Tice's own Boston and Skegness constituency. Mr Tice said: 'Labour's reckless net zero fantasies are destroying hundreds of thousands of industrial jobs, costing taxpayers £12 billion a year in renewable subsidies, and leaving us with some of the highest energy bills in the world. 'The OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) confirms that £30 billion of taxpayer money is being poured into net zero projects. These policies are crippling our economy and driving people out of this country.' In a report published last week, the OBR estimated tackling climate change would cost the Government £30 billion a year, largely in lost income from taxes such as fuel duty. But it also warned that failing to act presented a 'more significant fiscal cost' because of damage caused by climate change. Mr Shanks's intervention is the latest in a series of Labour attack lines against Reform, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer now regards as his real opponents. Reform has made opposition to net zero a major part of its platform since the last election. Earlier in the year Mr Tice pledged to 'wage war' on the policy while Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns told Times Radio on Thursday she did not believe climate change was real. But Labour believes this could be a weakness for Mr Farage's party, as polls indicate net zero continues to enjoy significant support. One survey conducted on behalf of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit ahead of the local elections in May found 54% of Reform voters backed 'policies to stop climate change'.
