Deal restauranteur Jasin Kaplan has criticised the district council for being too slow to act after a broken pump forced him to close his establishment for more than a week.

Mr Kaplan, who has run Jasin’s Restaurant on Deal Pier since November 2008, was told to evacuate his customers and close the business at about 2.30pm on Tuesday, December 27 because of a faulty pump on the lower deck.

The failing pump, which would usually remove waste water from the toilets and restaurant’s kitchen, meant neither area could be used.

After inquires from the businessman to Dover District Council throughout the Christmas period, the site was visited by engineers twice, although repairs couldn’t be made.

The restaurant was only reopened on Saturday after DDC installed a temporary pump with a pipe extending the length of the pier.

Mr Kaplan said: “I was very frustrated and annoyed but I’m grateful of this temporary arrangement.

“Dover District Council were extremely slow. I left messages with people all over the holidays but nobody cared to get back to us.

“Christmas and New Year is one of our busiest times of the year. Not only were we disappointed but so were our customers who were hoping to visit.

“It’s not easy to build up a good reputation in this industry.

“We’d like to tell them that it was out of our hands but we’re now back open for business.”

Kevin Charles, funding and communication manager at Dover District Council, said: “We are aware of a pump failure affecting the drainage to the restaurant on Deal Pier.

“Engineers have assessed the pump and we’re working to get the problem fixed as quickly as possible. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused."

He added: “It was unfortunate that this fault occurred over the Christmas and New Year period. However, we responded as soon as we were aware of the problem and have organised a repair as quickly as possible.

"We are still investigating why the pumps failed."

Mr Kaplan has also defended his decision to only allow his customers to use the toilets on Saturday.

He said: “If we turned people away, it wasn’t because we wanted to but we were told not to let other people use them to enable to council to know how much waste the temporary pump could generate.”

He said people have always been welcome to use the toilet and will continue to be.

Andy Steele, marketing officer at DDC, said: "On Saturday morning, a temporary pipe was laid on the pier and a truck was provided to enable the restaurant to open whilst the pumps were repaired.

"We opened a toilet cubicle for use of restaurant staff and customers. It was decided not to open the toilets for general public use as we were uncertain how much waste water would be produced by the restaurant. We were concerned the suction truck could be filled before the end of the day, requiring it to go off site to empty, (requiring the restaurant to close again).

"At 2.30pm on Saturday, having monitored the amount of waste produced by the restaurant, we decided the toilets could be opened for public use, having established that the truck had sufficient capacity for a full day’s waste."