Man can return to Victoria’s Empress hotel years after seagull, pepperoni uproar

VICTORIA – A Nova Scotia man is welcome to stay once again at Victoria's stately Fairmont Empress hotel more than 17 years after seagulls trashed the man's hotel room in a frenzy over pepperoni.

Nick Burchill of Dartmouth, N.S., says in a letter he sent to the hotel that he was young and immature in 2001 and unaware of the aggressive nature of west coast seagulls, especially when tempted with a suitcase full of fresh pepperoni.

Tracey Drake, the hotel's public relations director, says they first believed they were dealing with an April Fools' Day prank, but a check of the records confirmed the seagull story and Burchill's permanent ban.

Drake says Burchill returned to the Empress last week to personally apologize for the brouhaha where a flock of pepperoni-fuelled seagulls trashed his room after smelling the sausage left near an open window.

In the letter, Burchill says he remembers going out for a walk and returned to find about 40 seagulls in his room gorging themselves on the spicy pepperoni and generally behaving badly.

Drake says the damage to the room was beyond description, but all is forgiven and Burchill is back on the guest list.