Mitchells and Butlers have issued an apology after the closing of a dovecote at their site, the Captain's Wife, in Sully.

Public pressure from local residents, community groups and rescue centres lead to the announcement of the reopening of the dovecote.

A spokesperson for the company has issued a formal response: "Following internal consultations and a review of our original decision we will be reopening the dovecote today.

"We will be making contact with a local bird rescue group so we can work with them to resolve the situation.

"Our original decision to block the dovecote was made on the grounds of health and safety and hygiene, because of the large amount of pigeons and total number of other birds using the dovecote which was creating a seriously unhygienic environment.

"Please be assured in this process it was our intention and priority that no birds were harmed in the blocking of the dovecote.

"On reopening the dovecote we will be increasing the number of cleaning visits by our hygiene experts to monitor the situation until, working with the local bird rescue group, we have established the best possible solution.

"We understand this could have been handled better in the first instance and we should have engaged with the local community before a decision was made, and for that we would like to apologise."