The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Falling roof misses duo by ‘millimetres’
PERTH: Collapsed chimney causes damage and evacuation
Pub-goers escaped death by “millimetres” after the roof of a prominent Perth bar collapsed.
The roof of The Venue caved in after the chimney of a neighbouring building fell, sending huge chunks of concrete crashing to the street below.
Owner of the premises Frank Burger seed said it was lucky no one was killed.
He said: “It missed people by millimetres. Two people nearly lost their lives. They were standing outside having a smoke but because of the weather they were inside the doorway.”
Three people needed medical treatment and more than 80 were evacuated from the premises on Saturday evening.
Parts of St John Street remain on lockdown as engineers work on securing the building.
Further safety inspections are expected to take place today.
Revellers were “millimetres” from death when the roof of a popular Perth pub collapsed, sending chunks of masonry on to the pavement below.
Three people were hurt and more than 80 were evacuated from The Venue on St John Street after a chimney breast from a neighbouring building fell on to the roof .
Owner Frank Burgerseed said it was a stroke of luck that the incident happened early in the evening and during bad weather, meaning there were no smokers standing where the debris landed.
Mr Burgerseed, who had left the building moments before disaster struck on Saturday evening, said: “It missed people by millimetres.
“Two people nearly lost their lives but it missed them.
“They were standing outside having a smoke but because of the weather they were inside the doorway.
“If had been 15 minutes later then our door staff would have been standing there and if it had been a couple of hours later then hundreds of people could have been inside.
“All in all everyone has been very lucky.”
Mr Burgerseed said he had not been able to access the building since the incident as engineers were still working to make it safe.
Staff at The Venue have thanked the emergency services including the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, police and ambulance crews who helped deal with the aftermath.
Parts of St John Street remained closed off yesterday as engineers continued to work on the site.
There was no through walkway between High Street and South Street.
A full safety inspection of the site is expected to be carried out in the coming days. Emergency services remained on the scene for hours on Saturday night as they tried to contain the site and make it secure.
Gas and electrical engineers braved high winds and torrential rain, which battered the area before Storm Ciara moved in yesterday. Late night pub-goers continued to arrive at The Venue hours after the incident only to find their way blocked by police tape.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were alerted at 7.25pm on Saturday February 8 to reports of a structural collapse on St John Street, Perth.
“Operations Control mobilised two appliances and a height vehicle to the scene, where the chimney of a tenement building had collapsed.
“Three casualties were handed into the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “There’s no one seriously injured.
“There were approximately 80 people in The Venue that have been evacuated safely.
“The condition of the three people who were injured is not known.”
Concerns have been raised about the condition of some of the buildings in the historic centre of Perth in recent years.
Residents were forced to flee their homes in November after one of the city’s oldest hotels collapsed in on itself.
The White Horse Inn had been left to deteriorate since a major blaze left it open to the elements in 2013.
The North William Street property, which dates back to the mid-19th Century, became an unlikely tourist attraction, with visitors stopping to take snaps of its visibly sloping upper floor.
Plans to demolish the building and construct 12 flats on the site were withdrawn in December and the owner is now understood to be working on fresh proposals.