Horsham fatberg: ‘People were walking past retching’

Fat and grease poured out of drains in the town centre yesterday as engineers worked to unblock the sewage system in the Carfax. For more see our previous story: Disgust as fatberg discovered in Horsham town centre

Southern Water cleared several drains - including one outside Prezzo - causing a foul stench in the area for most of the day.

The restaurant’s neighbour Dominic Sakakini, who runs Sakakini Jewellers, said the problem had been building up for sometime and he was forced to go home due to the stench caused by the clean-up.

He said: “We have had to put up with the smell of sewage in our shop for a month.

“People were walking by going what’s that smell? People were walking past retching.

“It definitely affected business yesterday. It’s hard enough to make a living with everything else (going on).”

Howard Bayliss who runs the Candybox , visited Dominic’s store during the chaos.

He said: “The smell was not great yesterday and when I was in the shop I had to cover my nose. It wasn’t very pleasant.”

Southern Water said the incident was not the first in the area and urged households and businesses to dispose of their waste properly.