Bristol Wetherspoons drinker ‘could have been killed’ after ceiling collapsed on his table

A man has revealed he had a near miss in a Wetherspoons - when a piece of ceiling landed on his table as he was returning from the bar.

Sam Ireton, 31, had got up to order a drink at the Commercial Rooms in Bristol - when the ceiling collapsed.

The mental health support worker had popped into the popular boozer for a lunchtime drink last week (17/6).

Sam, who also works part-time for Deliveroo, said: “I was doing a delivery job, so popped into the pub, put my bag down at a table a few metres away from the bar and went over to order a drink.

“As I was about to walk back to the table, a big bit of masonry fell from the ceiling onto the table and fully smashed it in two.”

And he claimed: “It would have easily killed me if I had just been half a minute sooner - it was completely traumatic.”

Sam said staff were “really good”, and they immediately cleared and shut the pub to conduct an instant report.

He added: “I was totally in shock and I sat there whilst they took my details.”

Sam, who had to go back to work after the disturbing incident, said he is pursuing routes to see whether he is entitled to any settlement claims.

Wetherspoons said: “On behalf of J D Wetherspoon plc, we sincerely apologise to Mr Ireton and the other customers who were visiting the pub on the 17 June, when this incident took place.

“We were pleased that fortunately no one was hurt.

“Experts conduct regular inspections of all fibrous plaster ceilings which are located in some Wetherspoon pubs.

“The last ceiling inspection at the Commercial Rooms took place in February this year, when the experts found no cause for concern.

“Immediately following the incident, the pub was evacuated and the area was cordoned off pending a further full inspection by experts, which took place this week.

“The experts conducted some minor repairs but found that the ceiling was otherwise structurally sound so the area has been reopened.

“Wetherspoon treats the health and safety of its staff and customers with the utmost importance and every effort is made to ensure that our pubs are safe places”.