10,000 bees discovered living inside ceiling of London pub

By Ottilie Von Henning via SWNS

A giant colony of 10,000 bees was discovered living inside the ceiling of a London pub.

The huge nest was discovered during the ongoing restoration of the soon-to-be-opened Leyton Engineer pub in Waltham Forest.

It is believed the bees had been living there for at least 10 years.

The formerly known Leyton Technical Pub is getting a major facelift after it was bought by Remarkable Pubs last year.

The bees were known to the pub's new management when they took the project on as buzzing could be heard and bees could be seen flying around.

But Jake Miller, 58, one of the creative directors with Remarkable Pubs, was shocked when they discovered the size of the nest.

Jake said: "It was definitely not what we were expecting when we opened up the ceiling.

"It's a very large nest that runs through the whole room and we'd only seen a handful of bees at that point."

It took a team of three workers three days to fully evacuate the bees.

Jake said: "It's certainly been a big job but it got sorted quite quickly.

"The bee people came along and hoovered up the bees to transport them somewhere safe.

"All the lava and honeycomb have had to be removed as well so there's less chance of another nest."

The work is not quite done yet as Jake and his restoration team must do everything they can to prevent the nest from re-growing.

Jake said: "We still have to make sure it is completely cleaned and sealed.

"There is always going to be some straggler bees who will return to the ceiling and attempt to rebuild the nest.

"That's why it's so important we ensure that it's properly cleaned out and boarded up."

The bees have left behind a significant amount of honey residue which Jake is hoping they can bottle and sell as Leyton Engineer Honey.

Jake said: "It would be really nice to have some actual home-grown honey in the middle of London.

"I hope we can make that work with what we've got left."