Council takes action over Sunbridgewells drain issue

Sunbridgewells - a unique underground complex home to cafes pubs, bars, and restaurants - took to Facebook last week to express its anger.

The business claimed the council was "washing all of Bradford's filth down our drain".

Following the social media cry, the council sent out its gullies team on Monday morning to resolve the issue.

The team found a large stone block, a small brick, and a bag full of sand down the gully.

Sunbridgewells is a unique underground complex home to cafes pubs, bars, and restaurants (Image: UGC) Speaking to the T&A, owner Harry Hall said: "It was so frustrating on Thursday.

"I had been showing people around Sunbridgewells, they loved it, but had to walk through a puddle on the way out.

"Sunbridgewells is an asset for the city centre. It is a basic thing for me to be looked after. It was just one step too far.

"To be fair to the council they have come out Monday morning and fixed the problem.

"I want to thank all those people for sharing the post to bringing it to their attention."

The drain problem had been going on for months (Image: UGC) He added: "Those stairs that lead down from Sunbridge Road (to Sunbridgewells) is a really bad area in the city centre. There is always faeces, sick, bottles, and wee.

"Every Sunday, the council's cleaning teams jet wash all those stairs, all that goes down to the lowest drain which is ours.

"When that is full, what is in the drain leaks out onto our paving stones. It is not nice to see.

"I have been told it should not happen again and people will be keeping an eye on it moving forwards."

The council sent out its team on Monday (Image: UGC) On Thursday, a post on the Sunbridgewells Facebook page read: "Hey Bradford, enough is enough! 

“Remember when JD Window Cleaning Services and Bradford BID did the amazing job of jet washing the front of Sunbridgewells three months ago? How amazing it looked. 

“My question today is to Bradford Council - when are we going to stop washing all of Bradford's filth down our drain?

"Or more importantly when are you going to start cleaning up after yourself and removing the s**t you put down our drains? 

“It gets a bit boring when I’m removing actual s**t by hand in buckets. 

“How amazing would it be if we supported businesses in the city instead of drowning them. 

“P.S The drain belongs to Bradford Council not Sunbridge Wells.” 

Owner Harry Hall is pleased the issue has finally been dealt with (Image: Newsquest) In response, a Bradford Council spokesperson said: “Officers from the council have been in touch with the Sunbridgewells team and the blocked drains/gullies will be prioritised for cleaning as soon as possible.

"Anyone seeing a blocked gully can report it by visiting the council website and clicking on the report it page.” 

The gully in question (Image: Google Street View) On Monday, the spokesperson added: "Our gullies team have resolved this issue.

"They found a large stone block, a small brick and a bag full of sand down the gully.

"The gullies in the area have now been cleaned to the satisfaction of Mr Hall and are working correctly.

"I hope our actions minimise standing water in the immediate areas."