Flooding causes closure of BHS store in the Shambles
Dec 21 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Flooding causes closure of BHS store in the Shambles
A MAJOR town centre retailer had to close its doors to Christmas shoppers after it flooded.
British Home Stores on The Shambles evacuated the store after a sprinkler head activated in the first floor female toilet area.
The store was able to open at 5pm last night – but had missed several hours on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Thousands of litres of water filled the top floor of the store which houses menswear, homeware and footwear and leaked through the ceiling on to the ground floor which houses women’s wear, lingerie and Christmas goods.
There are also Wallis and Dorothy Perkins concessions in the downstairs of the store.
Andy Bellerby, crew commander at Huddersfield fire station said fire crews were called out around 10.30am yesterday to the store and were at the scene for three and a half hours.
Crew commander Bellerby said 100 litres a minute could flow when a sprinkler system was activated.
He said it could have been activated due to weather conditions or maliciously.
