A boarded-up pub has been labelled a “death trap” after a grandmother slipped and became trapped in an exposed manhole. The third serious incident at The Royal since it was closed by police more than a year ago.

Lyn Murgatroyd, 60, was warning young grandson Ellis to keep away from a steep flight of cellar steps behind The Royal pub in Crag Road, Windhill, Shipley, when she stepped backwards, lost her footing, and fell down the manhole.

She felt an excruciating pain in her left leg as half of her body became trapped in the deep hole’s narrow opening.

Fortunately, quick-thinking Ellis realised his grandmother was in trouble and alerted a neighbour, and Mrs Murgatroyd was eventually rescued.

Bradford Councillor Vanda Greenwood said the pub had been boarded up following a joint day of action by police and the Council, targeting problem premises in Windhill.

The Royal was the scene of a number of horrific attacks until it closed down in 2006. Since then it has become a rubbish-strewn eyesore and has been broken into several times, residents say.

Councillor Greenwood (Lab, Windhill and Wrose) said: “Quite clearly, this is a death trap. If it had been a little child who had fallen down the hole, there is no question that they could have been fatally injured. The owners need to do more to secure it by barricading off the whole area.”

Mrs Murgatroyd, of Stubbing Way, Windhill, said of her experience: “I was wedged in. If it had been Ellis, he would have gone straight through. It was so scary – a horrible sensation.”

She was rescued after Ellis alerted a neighbour, Kelly Ward, 33, who called her partner Paul Siewruck to help.

Mrs Murgatroyd was suffering from shock and was badly bruised and scratched down her arms when the father-of-three pulled her to safety.

Earlier this year, a young boy broke his ankle when he fell down steep steps leading to the cellar, said Mrs Murgatroyd.

In another incident a few weeks ago, a resident who had just moved into Stubbing Way was running past the pub when he tripped over the hole.

Mr Siewruck said: “We have complained about the pub lots of times. I have spoken to the local police community support officer numerous times.

“We have got three boys and we’ve told them to stop going down there because it is dangerous. But – kids being kids – they like to play together and once you tell them not to go somewhere, they go there.”

Miss Ward added: “There are more people who have complained about this place since it has been shut than when it was open, and there were a lot of complaints about it then. If we were in the middle of Saltaire or somewhere like that, it wouldn’t have been left like this but because we are on a council estate, nothing happens.”

The pub’s owners, who are believed to be in Leicester, were unavailable for comment.