Wetherspoons accuses customers of ‘pretending’ to be hit by debris after pub ceiling collapses

Individuals’ claims said to have been contradicted by police and staff with view of CCTV

The North and South Wales Bank pub in Wrexham – closed temporarily (Google Maps)

Customers “pretended” to have been struck by debris in a JD Wetherspoon pub after parts of the ceiling collapsed during Storm Arwen, a spokesperson for the chain has said.

Staff were forced to call the emergency services and evacuate drinkers from the premises when chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling of the North and South Wales Bank pub in Wrexham just before 10.30pm on Friday.

“No customers or staff were injured although two customers pretended they had been hit but when confronted by the police and Wetherspoons staff looking at CCTV it showed clearly that no customers were struck by any debris,” the spokesperson told North Wales Live.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said that it had received reports of two potentially injured people at the pub and that a rapid response vehicle was called to the scene, according to the outlet.

But the two individuals had left the premises by the time that paramedics arrived, the ambulance service said.

The Independent has contacted North Wales Police for more details of its response to the incident.

The pub will be closed until further notice and a structural engineer, builder and architect will attend to assess the damage, the Wetherspoons spokesperson said.

In the meantime, the pub’s staff will be deployed to the other Wetherspoons pub in Wrexham, the Elihu Yale, they added.

It is unclear whether the damage was related in any way to Storm Arwen, for which the Met Office issued a rare red weather warning along parts of the east coast on Friday night and an amber warning for wind in western Wales on Saturday morning.