We've been forced to shell out £6k at our cafe for (2024)

A small park cafe has been forced to fork out £6,000 in the last three months for a 'disgusting' reason, staff say.

Sip and Slice at Sutton Park nearBirmingham has urged visitors to treat their facilities 'with respect' before adamantly stating: 'This cannot continue.'

The quaint eatery boasts an outdoor seating area as well as a toilet block which can be used by diners as well as people frequenting Bracebridge Pool.

However the small business has warned if the disgusting misuse, which has seen their pipes rammed with soiled nappies and more, the toilets will be shut for good.

The team at Sip and Slice, situated next-door to the Bracebridge restaurant, took to social media hitting out at people who have a lack of respect for the toilets.

'As you know we provide toilets outside which are based at Sip and Slice for the benefit of people using the park,' they explained.

'We don't request you're a customer of Sip and Slice, however we do ask that the facilities are treated with respect.'

They divulged that despite several pleas for parkgoers to be mindful when using the lavatory, their requests continue to go ignored.

They continued: 'We request that people do not put baby wipes, nappies and other items down the toilets as it blocks the sewers up which is very costly.

'To date, in three months, we have paid in excess of £6,000 unblocking and clearing the sewers because people do not follow the instructions and requests.

'The team that need to clear the sewers have found everything mentioned above and more.'

Defiant that the lack of respect for the lavatory they maintain 'cannot continue', the establishment waned the toilets would be closed for good if they continued to be disrespected.

'We honestly would rather not however we can't continue to pay charges to cover the misuse of the toilets for which we provide to assist those visiting the park.

'The closure won't impact customers as they can continue to utilise the toilets provided at the Bracebridge.'

Sip Slice first opened its doors at the beginning of the year with its neighbours The Bracebridge relaunching under a different name.

The toilet chaos comes shortly after The Bracebridge was at the centre of a one-star Google review blackmail plot in July.

Chef Andy Sheridan, who has appeared on Great British Menu, said he and business partner Sam Morgan's eateries were targeted by criminals demanding four-figure payments or else they would be hit with fake reviews.

The pair, who run a number of restaurants across England including the Bracebridge, say they initially ignored the demands until they noticed fake criticisms of their businesses cropping up on Google and TripAdvisor.

Others flooded in on Google - targeting not only the duo's Liverpool restaurant but the Bracebridge gastropub in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham - making baseless claims about each business.

One fake review left for the Bracebridge read: 'Disappoints with its lacklustre service and mediocre food quality, ambience was dull and prices did not justify the experience. Not recommended for discerning diners seeking quality dining.'

Mr Morgan decided to take action, trying to find out as much as he could about the fraudsters while also reporting their malicious reviews to tech giants in order to have them removed - with varying degrees of success.

He told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours: 'This is just classic fraudster tricks. The weapon is fear - ultimately we are a small independent business...we are not a multi-million organisation, we don't have the resources that tackle these things.'

He began to 'play along' with the fraudsters, asking for payment details and even convincing them to share a copy of their passport as proof of their identity, though he suspected the paperwork is fake.

After he stopped communicating with the fraudsters, malicious reviews began to appear online - and he was disappointed that it was only after the media got involved that the likes of Google intervened to cull the fake posts.