Meriden Fish Bar’s co-owner was reduced to tears after being forced to shut just five days after the shop's long-awaited reopening.

The setback has been caused by a broken fan system, which had already been hampering efforts to reopen following the chippy's closure last year.

Co-owner Donald Langford has blamed Watford Community Housing (WCH) and developers Mulalley, which built the business's new premises in York Way.

He claimed the fan’s control system had been dangerously placed, but after moving it WCH and Mulalley are now claiming the fan is no longer under warranty as it was “tampered with”.

Watford Observer: Donald Langford has had to close the shop five days after it opened. Donald Langford has had to close the shop five days after it opened.

Mr Langford continued: “We have not tampered with it, we had to move the control panels for safety reasons. It’s a farce.

“Not only are they saying it’s not under warranty because we moved the control panel to a safe position, but now they are turning around saying we have to pay for the engineer.

“This is costing a fortune, we are having to throw food away and pay high rents.”

Meriden Fish Bar first closed in April last year, but the planned October reopening was delayed due to a string of refurbishment setbacks.

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Having finally overcome several issues – the worst being the fan system – the shop welcomed customers back on August 8, before shutting again five days later.

Mr Langford said: “We’ve had messages from above the shop saying there are maggots from all the food thrown away.

“But what can the team do?

“My business partner has been in tears because he has had to turn customers away.”

A WCH spokesperson said it is working with Mr Langford to investigate and resolve the concerns.  

They added: “If the fan is determined to have been defective at the time of handover then the cost of repair or replacement will be covered.

“If the defect is found to have been caused by alterations made after the initial installation, then the owners will be liable for these costs.”

Mulalley has been approached for a response.

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