Sharon defiant in battle of the pong

Toughing it out . . . Sharon on the doorstep of The Swan on Lees High Street

Inquiry ordered into pub’s mystery stink

Defiant landlady Sharon Hirst has reopened the doors of her beleaguered pub — despite being haunted by mystery smells.

Sharon, who runs the Swan Inn at Lees, took the step as a local councillor ordered an investigation into the odours which have plagued the pub on the village’s High Street for months.

Eight weeks ago, in an attempt to beat the odour, she turned the pub’s upstairs function room into a bar to win customers back.

Sharon (37), took the pub over 10 months ago and was frustrated after weeks of foul-smelling waste seeped through the cellar floor.

But despite the novelty of drinking upstairs with a bird-eye view of the village, she is still fighting to regain lost trade.

She said: “Customers like to see the front door of a pub open to welcome them. A lot of locals have stayed loyal and drank in the upstairs bar.

“But I needed to get the passing trade back that’s why I have opened the bar at street level again.”

Sharon worked at The Swan for six years before becoming landlady and lives in the flat above the pub. Now local ward councillor Val Sedgwick is meeting a senior environmental health officer from the council to try and resolve the odour issues.

She said: “Sharon is determined to make a go of The Swan and I really want to establish just where and why the smells are causing all these problems.

“At present, it is very difficult to track where the smells are actually centred. We are testing drains round the pub to see if we can trace the smells. But at present, it is still a complete mystery.

“I am hoping my site investigation with the environmental health officer will yield some answers.”

Jack Partington, JW Lees area manager, said the brewery had spent thousands of pounds trying to resolve the problem.

“We have even installed fans in the cellar which has reduced the smells and spent a fortune going through the drains – but it is still a mystery why the smell is here.

“Sharon is a real trouper and determined to tough it out. The brewery back her a hundred percent.”

United Utilities launched an investigation last November and claim the smells are an internal problem at the pub. They dye-tested neighbouring properties and ruled out any waste water getting into the cellar.