Halloween and Bonfire Night: Why Pubs and Restaurants See a Spike in Blockages

Halloween and Bonfire Night bring queues out of the door. For pubs and restaurants, that means a few of the busiest weekends of the autumn. It also means more strain on your drains.

If you run a venue, a blocked drain on a night like that costs you bookings, reviews and trade. This guide covers why blockages spike and what to do before the rush.

Why busy weekends cause blockages

Drains don't care about the calendar. They care about load. When trade jumps, three things happen.

More food waste goes down the sink. Busy kitchens scrape plates and rinse pans quickly. Fat, oil and grease (FOG) go down with the water. In a cold pipe, that fat cools and sticks to the walls. Over time it narrows the pipe until it blocks. See our post on what happens when you pour fat down the sink.

Grease traps fill up. A trap that was fine in a quiet week can overflow after a busy one. If it is already full, extra load pushes grease into the drain. Our guide on grease trap servicing explains how often to clear it.

Toilets get heavy use. Big crowds mean more flushing. Add wipes, paper towels and sanitary items, and you have a recipe for a blocked toilet or soil stack.

Staff are also stretched on busy nights. Small jobs get missed, and little problems become big ones.

Warning signs before the weekend

Check for these early signs:

• Sinks and floor drains that empty slowly
• Bad smells from kitchen or toilet drains
• Gurgling when a sink or toilet is used
• Water pooling around floor drains
• Grease build-up around the trap lid

Any one of these can mean a blockage is on its way. Don't leave it until Saturday night.

A simple checklist for the week before

1. Service the grease trap. Book it before the busy weekend, not after. See our grease trap cleaning and emptying.
2. Clean the kitchen drains. Our kitchen drainage cleaning clears the build-up you can't see.
3. Scrape plates into the bin. Wipe pans with paper before washing.
4. Brief the team. Explain what must not go down sinks and toilets.
5. Know who to call. Keep our emergency number by the till or in the kitchen.
6. Think about a maintenance plan. Regular visits beat emergency call-outs. See our planned restaurant drainage maintenance.

If a drain blocks on the night

Act quickly:

• Stop using the affected sinks or toilets
• Move prep to a working area if you can
• Don't pour chemicals down a blocked drain. They rarely fix a grease blockage and can make the clear-out harder
• Call a drainage company that works out of hours

We offer emergency fat, oil and grease blockage removal and 24/7 emergency call-outs, 365 days a year, including bank holidays. We can also work early, late or at weekends to keep disruption down.

Avoid fines as well as blockages

Blocked and overloaded drains can also lead to enforcement action. Read what restaurants get fined for in our guide on how to avoid it.

Get ahead of the rush

A quick check now is cheaper than a lost Saturday night. Call 0203 870 1067, email contactus@icedrainage.co.uk or get a quote today.

Related reading: grease traps and interceptors.