If you live within York’s ancient bar walls, or even in the surrounding suburbs like Acomb, Heworth, or Bishopthorpe, you’ll know that our beautiful city has a secret it doesn’t like to talk about:

Last Tuesday, I noticed the shower draining slowly. By Wednesday, water was bubbling up through the plughole in the downstairs toilet. By Thursday morning, I had raw sewage backing up into my cellar on Micklegate .

The plumber used a CCTV camera. We watched on the screen as we navigated 15 meters of pipe. Turns out, a previous builder had shoved a rag into the pipe to stop debris, then just left it there . Two years later, it finally clogged completely with fat and roots.

I rang a local Dyno-Rod equivalent. Because it was 5 PM on a Friday, the quote was £280 just to show up. Instead, I found a local independent plumber who specializes in drainage (look for "Jetting" or "High Pressure Water Jetting").