A licensee has slammed National Grid after being refused compensation despite delays to emergency works outside his pub resulting in trade dropping by a fifth.
Patrick Lynskey, who runs the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, North London, said work on a gas leak took five weeks to complete and led to a 20 per cent loss in trade over Christmas and January.
He said: "The place was like a tip. People are fussy and they don't want to come into a place that looks like a building site.
"It was the sheer inefficiency of the operation that really got to me. A job like that should have been done and dusted in about three or four days."
Workmen drilled holes outside the front to allow gas to escape into the atmosphere instead of the pub on December 14. But the holes left the entrance blocked and the work was not completed until January 18.
When Patrick contacted National Grid to discuss compensation for the loss in custom he was told he was not entitled to any money.
"We were not looking for thousands of pounds. We were just hoping they would meet us halfway," he said.
A spokeswoman for National Grid told The Publican: "We made sure all the gas was gone from the public house and as far as we were concerned everything was fine with regards to the gentleman being able to trade.
"We were not blocking access to the pub. We feel sorry that he feels that he lost trade because of our emergency work but it was an emergency.
"If he would like, he can put a claim in writing to us to go through due process to be considered."