Cafe owner counts cost of closure

Sean Peacock, who owns the 'Village Caff' claimed that "each and every fitting" installed by George Brown - the business at the centre of a safety probe following the deaths of two teenagers in Castlerock - had failed safety checks carried out by health and safety executive (HSE) officials.

He feared his cafe, which is heavily reliant on gas, could have been a ticking time-bomb.

"Who is going to pay for all this work? I have had to have everything re-fitted and that will not be cheap," said.

He said the alarm was raised after his wife phoned the emergency telephone number issued by the HSE.

"We are mightily relieved now that we phoned the number and had the place checked over.

"We use a lot of gas here, for the water heater, the cooking hobs and the many of our cooking appliances – I don't want to think about how dangerous this could have been.

"They (safety officials] have told us that each and every last fitting was unsafe – so this place could have been a ticking time-bomb," Mr Peacock said.

"There is no indication of when we will be able to open again. Every day we are closed, we are losing money, and with the costs of the replacement gas fittings, it could be a very difficult time ahead," the cafe owner added.

Mr Peacock says he knows George Brown "personally" and had "trusted" him.

"I don't know what the outcome of all this will be, but we are just hoping that we can open again as soon as possible," he added.