Pigeons force couple to quick step from ballet

It was a night to remember when Duncan Poulter took his wife to a performance of The Snow Queen at Bristol Hippodrome.

They were showered with pigeon droppings during the ballet and performed their own pirouette, fleeing their £17 seats.



"During the first part we could hear a dull thudding noise, which we discovered was pigeon droppings falling on to a gent in front of us," said Mr Poulter, 60, a retired engineer.

"We could also smell bird droppings, and the seats in front of us were splattered with them too ... We had just got into the second part when I was hit with a real dose of it."

The Hippodrome, which said it had offered to pay Mr Poulter's dry-cleaning bill, admitted yesterday: "Over the last few months we have had a few unfortunate incidents with pigeons getting into the building and accessing the auditorium."