Casa Brighouse: Owner defends himself after council closed business down due to raw sewage flow

Calderdale Council served a 48 hour closure notice on restaurant and events venue Casa Brighouse on Tuesday following a three month battle to stop sewage flowing from a pipe from the business.

But owner Jack McDaid claimed no sewage had been flowing into the pipe from his business for a month, and he was unaware the council had installed a cap.

Mr McDaid said: “There is nothing flowing from this business into the pipe. Everything has been blocked off here in regards to that pipe for some time now. If there is anything coming from that pipe, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it is coming from the Casa.”

Mr McDaid attempted to fix the pipe earlier this year but Yorkshire Water called the fix “illegal and dangerous” and reversed it.

He said: “We’ve taken advice from solicitors and we’ve instructed contractors.

“Subject to Yorkshire Water’s approval, we were going to start works tomorrow, irrespective of this pathetic attempt to destroy my business.

“As a matter of proper practice and behaviour, the pipe will be fixed in the manner it has to be in accordance with Yorkshire Water’s next specification by Thursday next week.”

Calderdale council’s director of public services, Ian Day, said defective drainage at Casa Brighouse was causing water pollution, and that the business was the “sole cause” of the contamination.

Mr Day said: “The Closure Notice that we served on Casa on Tuesday March 21 is still in place, and we will seek a court hearing next week to impose a Closure Order until the remedial work is done.

“We will continue to visit the premises to ensure compliance, and are regularly monitoring the drainage pipe that we capped and have had to repair due to continued activity on site.”