A York pub landlady has been left in a state of disbelief after someone tore down most of the wallpaper from the ladies loo ‘in an absolute frenzy’.
The vandal struck near the end of the night on Saturday at the Bootham Tavern on Bootham, York.
They ripped down the wallpaper in the sink area as well as from all three stalls.
“It was Saturday night, we had karaoke on, nothing out of the ordinary,” said Bootham Tavern licensee Nicky Hunter.
“We’re open until 1am and a member of my staff messaged me at 12.40am – she had just walked into the ladies and found this. It had to have been done in the last hour, and I don’t even know what to say about it.”
Staff had to call last orders early to sort out the situation.
Nicky said her reaction was “disbelief”.
“It just seems so pointless. They’ve obviously gone to quite an effort to vandalise what are nice toilets.
“Why would you do that? What on earth would that achieve? Absolute madness.”
Looking at the scale of the damage, it was done “in an absolute frenzy”, Nicky said. “The pub was really busy on a Saturday night, and I don’t understand why nobody came and said something.”
Nicky took over the Bootham Tavern seven years ago, and said there was a rougher element to the clientele back then.
But she has turned the pub around. “It’s been really good for a long number of years. And we’ve never had an incident like this – never. And that’s why I couldn’t quite believe it.”
She has no idea who did it. “I’d like to know!” She shared the video on Facebook, and said: “I genuinely hope whoever’s done it has seen it. And sobered up, and thought ‘Hmm’.”
She hasn’t reported the damage to the police. “I think police have got more things to worry about,” she said.
Nicky has acted quickly to make good the damage. A friend who is a decorator has sanded back the walls and taken any remaining paper off the damaged areas, before giving it a coat of paint.
Then she will look to fully re-wallpaper the toilets in the autumn.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to keep going. It’s already bad enough, with the pub trade at the moment,” she said
Under Nicky’s stewardship, the Bootham Tavern has thrived. It is a big supporter of the York City Knights team, sponsoring players and putting on social nights for the club and fans.
“Just come and enjoy the pub,” she said. “There’s no need for things like that.”
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