YORKSHIRE Water is investigating after raw sewage came up through a drain at the side of York’s Blossom Street and flowed along the gutter.

But the company says its probe into the cause of the problem has been hampered because a manhole cover in the street has been paved over.

The repeated problems have created a “terrible stink” which has cost the nearby New York Working Men’s Club important business, claims club secretary Frank Healy.

He said: “These are difficult times for this club, like all other clubs, and I estimate we have lost a thousand pounds of business since this started a week ago. But it still hasn’t been resolved.

“We have also had to cancel committee meetings and meetings with the club’s accountant, and we can’t open the windows or doors in the hot weather because of the smell.

“At times, in the late afternoon and evening when a lot of people are flushing their toilets, it has been coming out of the drain and flowing along the gutter outside the club before going back down the next drain.”

He said he understood efforts to trace the source of the leak had been hampered because a manhole cover had been paved over during a resurfacing project in the street earlier this year.

A Yorkshire Water spokeswoman confirmed that an inspector had seen raw sewage in the gully last Saturday evening, but said a manhole cover had been paved over, making it difficult to gain access into the drains to carry out an investigation.

However, she said officials were hoping to gain access to the manhole yesterday so that a camera could be sent down to try to find the cause of the sewage leak.