Water company Severn Trent refused to set up a payment plan for a Shrewsbury nightclub involved in a dispute over a £23,000 bill, an industry watchdog has said.

The Consumer Council for Water claimed that despite attempts to arrange a way for The Buttermarket in Howard Street to pay back some of the money, the company had turned it down and instead pressed ahead with a disconnection.

But Severn Trent today said the club’s repeated failure to meet previous payment plans had meant that drastic action had to be taken.

The water supply to the nightclub was switched off on March 27 by Severn Trent and has not yet been reconnected.

A spokesman for the club has previously said the issue relates to a bill dating back over three years, which he claims was incorrect.

Charlene Stephens, spokeswoman for CCWater, said they were first contacted by Kerry Wycherley, owner of The Buttermarket, on March 17 who claimed the bill was “incorrect”.

Ms Stephens said: “Severn Trent said there was a leak in the supply that Kerry would be responsible for. They gave him a reduction of £7,000 which brought it down to £16,000 on March 23.

“But at that point Severn Trent were still saying they were going to go ahead with the disconnection. So we contacted Severn Trent again and asked them not to disconnect and secondly to allow Kerry to set up a payment plan so he wouldn’t have to pay in one go, which they continued to refuse until they disconnected.”

A spokeswoman for Severn Trent said: “We have made a number of payment plan arrangements for this customer. Unfortunately, these were not followed through.

“Disconnection and removal of the meter was carried out very much as a last resort.

“Once full payment is received, we will be able to make arrangements for reconnection.”

No-one was available for comment from The Buttermarket.

By Russell Roberts