Every Monday at around noon it is the same story: the area around Ryan’s Pub in St Julian’s, Spinola, is a total mess. There are hundreds of plastic cups and cigarette butts on the Wied l-Ghomor street side, many empty alcohol bottles on the roof of the public toilet, half-filled cups on the pavement outside and plenty of broken glass fragments and bottle-necks and smashed plastic all around the skip on the left side that leads to Scotts Ltd’s supermarket. As a regular client of Scotts, I find this a danger to young and old alike, who have to walk over the broken glass in the morning and afternoon. It is both dangerous and disrespectful.

For some reason, the staff of Ryan’s Pub are throwing glass bottles into the skip from one level up, rather than walking downstairs and disposing of them properly. (Please see photos).

Dear owners, it is not enough to keep your pub clean indoors, you also have a responsibility to keep the surrounding outside area clean, too. You cannot expect the local council to clean up after your mess every week. Other establishments, such as the popular Dubliner’s, are just as busy yet they manage to keep the area outside their premises clean. Even bar owners in Paceville are cleaner than you!

If you are catering to a younger, messier crowd, then you need to take responsibility for what is going on and clean up on the same evening – Sunday evening – immediately after they leave. Another idea is to organise some bins on your terrace so that customers can dispose of plastic cups and bottles there safely. Also, please ask your staff to stop throwing bottles into the skip and all over the surrounding pavement. Surely you have heard of recycling by now?

Perhaps you can make it your New Year’s Resolution to keep things clean. It is your responsibility, so please take some action.

J. Abela

ST JULIAN’S