Pubs drained by burst water main

Jolly Judge manager Adam Neil says his pub lost at least 400 in trade

A burst water main on Chambers Street left a number of businesses, including Edinburgh Castle, without water for up to two hours over the weekend, as they struggled to recover from a holiday season disrupted by heavy snowfall.

Deacon Brodie's Tavern on Lawnmarket was forced to close, as was the Jolly Judge across the road.

Its manager Adam Neil said the business needed to close because it had a legal obligation to provide drinking water for customers.

"It was quite annoying, we probably lost about 400 as the pub was full when we discovered the problem on Saturday," he said. "We were closed for about an hour and a half but when I called Scottish Water they said it could have been off for three or four hours."

The manager of the Ensign Ewart, Audrey Ollanson, said the pub was able to stay open despite not having any functioning toilets, although the kitchen had to be closed.

"It was an absolute nightmare," she said. "I had to go into the toilets with a pair of rubber gloves and a carrier bag and scoop out the toilet paper so they wouldn't block, because none of the customers told us that they weren't flushing.

"The problem was that there was no forewarning. I'm not sure how long the water was off before we noticed, as it wasn't until I went to get a glass of water myself that we discovered the problem."

A spokesman for Edinburgh Castle said it couldn't provide toilet facilities for its final hour of opening.

"We gave visitors a pass out to use facilities further down the Mile. We also brought the last admission time forward to restrict any impact on visitors."

A spokesman for Scottish Water said its engineers repaired the burst water main as quickly and safely as possible.

"Our engineers completed the repair within two hours of the burst water main being reported," he said. "Our helpline operators immediately posted a message regarding the burst on our website and notified licence providers, who are the retail suppliers of water to business customers, and therefore the responsibility of notifying businesses lies directly with them as their customers."

A spokesman for Business Stream, a major licence provider for water in Edinburgh and subsidiary of Scottish Water, said: "We're very sorry for any distress or inconvenience caused by this incident and we would encourage any customer affected to get in contact with us, if they need support as a result of this incident."