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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
David Walker & Robert Sutcliffe

Outrage as pub broadcasts live footage from INSIDE the boozer's toilets

A popular pub been accused of broadcasting live footage of its toilets on TVs where drinkers inside can see.

Showtime sports bar in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has sparked fury after a disgruntled punter made the claim after visiting the boozer last weekend.

They said that the pub records all footage from their loos and then broadcasts them via a TV above the toilet entrance where the whole pub can watch it.

Images taken from inside the pub show screens underneath the 'Restrooms' sign which appear to have live feeds of inside the ladies' and gents' bathrooms.

The punter said: "The image I have taken Saturday teatime shows the owners of the premises are recording footage of both the gents' and ladies' toilets and, what's more, then broadcasting it live to the whole pub via a TV above the toilet entrances.

Do you think the drinker was right to complain about the footage? Have your say in the comments

Ian Snowball runs the popular pub (Huddersfield Examiner/MEN Media)

"Personally, I feel that this is a severe breach of privacy, and everyone that I have spoken to since witnessing this is of the same opinion and cannot believe that it is allowed to happen."

But the venue's management dispute the claim, saying that they are "immensely proud" of their safety and security systems, which is designed to catch drug users and combat overcrowding, Daily Record reports.

They also said that only authorised staff members have access to the footage of the toilets in the bar.

Ian Snowball co-runs the bar with his son (Huddersfield Examiner/MEN Media)

Ian Snowball, who runs the bar with his son Adam, said: "In regards to toilets, ordinarily these are places where drug dealing and drug taking is prevalent, as a venue operator you can then elect to either bury your head in the sand or do something about it.

"We are a proactive venue so meet challenges like this head-on.

"We are also looking to attract families with children and during the Covid era, we were obliged to manage the toilets to ensure that they did not become overcrowded.

Ian with his son Adam (Huddersfield Examiner/MEN Media)

"The CCTV system provides a safety net for the young and vulnerable, in addition to working towards compliance with Covid legislation and safety.

"Because of our systems, we have quickly found drug dealers and the occasional male going into the ladies, and on each occasion, we have been able to catch and ban them permanently with the use of our facial recognition system.

"We are immensely proud of our safety and security systems, in addition to which, most of our guests also appreciate and respect the way we run our venue in regards to safety.

"Equally, we acknowledge our practices and principles will not meet with the approval of everyone but again, as can be seen from this response, we do listen and pay attention to what everyone says, even if, at the end of the day, we do not agree."

Adam added: "The fact that we have cameras and screens is on our website home page - it's no secret.

"'Pictures are not taken. A 3D image of a face is captured and entered onto the database, along with a time and date.

Ian said only authorised staff members have access to the footage (Huddersfield Examiner/MEN Media)

"Environmental health officers were adamant about toilets capacity during Covid restrictions and customers and staff have no realistic way of ensuring this capacity is not exceeded - our solution being the only real-world solution that worked.

"Only myself, the designated premises supervisor and data controller, have access to this CCTV system and provide footage to the relevant authorities as and when requested."

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