On a seemingly ordinary Sunday evening, September 28, 2025, the tranquil atmosphere at the Toby Carvery restaurant in Brockworth, Gloucester, was shattered in an instant. As families tucked into their roast dinners, a sudden, deafening crash reverberated through the dining room. In a matter of seconds, part of the ceiling gave way, sending chunks of plaster and debris tumbling onto unsuspecting diners below.
Footage from the scene, widely circulated on social media and viewed tens of thousands of times, captured the chaos that ensued. Diners, young and old, scrambled to escape as the room filled with dust. Children’s frightened cries—“I’m scared. What happened?”—echoed above the confusion, as reported by GloucestershireLive and The Sun. Plates of roast dinners sat abandoned on tables, some still untouched, while clouds of dust billowed and ceiling fragments littered the floor.
Among those caught in the collapse was a young girl, struck on the head by falling plaster, and a woman seated nearby. Brandan Price-Davis, a railway engineer from Brockworth, recounted to The Sun and Metro the moment disaster struck: “Luckily, we weren’t hit by anything, but I saw a little girl at the table next to us get hit in the head by some plaster.” He added, “I just remember hearing this huge bang, and suddenly, everything was a mess. We just tried to get outside as soon as possible because there was dust everywhere, but I couldn’t see any staff around.”
Joey Pass, another diner present that evening, told BBC Gloucestershire he was standing outside with one of his children when he “suddenly heard a massive crash.” He rushed back inside to find the room engulfed in dust and panic. “I could see loads of dust and heard a kid scream, so I rushed in to see if everyone was OK,” Pass recalled. “First aid was given by a frantic woman who was eating there.” Pass’s concern lingered long after the incident: “I felt concerned and worried—what if that happened to my children or my wife? My daughter keeps asking about the little girl that the roof fell on.”
Emergency services responded swiftly. Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, South Western Ambulance Service, and police vehicles converged on the carvery around 6:45 PM, as confirmed by GloucestershireLive. The South Western Ambulance Service reported that two patients, the young girl and the woman, were taken by land ambulance to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Fortunately, neither sustained major injuries, according to statements provided to the BBC and The Independent.
As the dust settled, diners helped one another to safety. Video footage showed a young girl being carried outside, her face streaked with dust, while other children sobbed in fear. One diner, reflecting the collective shock, posted on social media: “Toby Carvery Brockworth ceiling just collapsed on us! Stay away!!” Another commented, “Hope everyone’s ok—what a nightmare.”
The restaurant, located on Shurdington Road and recently revamped in 2024 with a £500,000 investment, was immediately evacuated as a precaution. Some diners, like Price-Davis, decided not to wait around and left for home, picking up fast food elsewhere. “After a bit of waiting, we decided it wasn’t worth sticking around, so we just went home and got some McDonald’s on the way. That’s when we saw the fire engines and ambulances driving to the carvery,” he told The Sun.
In the aftermath, Toby Carvery moved quickly to reassure the public. A spokesperson for the chain issued a statement, reported across outlets including Metro and BBC Gloucestershire: “We can confirm that a small section of our Brockworth restaurant has been affected by damage to the ceiling. As a precaution, we immediately evacuated the restaurant and called on the support of the emergency services to assess the building and guests who were dining in the vicinity.”
Emergency crews thoroughly assessed the building, with Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service confirming that nobody was trapped inside. After inspection, the premises were declared safe to use. “Following this assessment, the building has been confirmed as safe to use, and our maintenance contractors will be on site imminently to carry out repairs,” said the Toby Carvery spokesperson. The company also promised to contact all guests impacted by the incident directly in the coming days, adding, “Whilst we were grateful to hear from the emergency services that the incident did not cause harm to any guests, we apologise to all guests impacted, and our care team will be contacting them directly.”
Despite the official statement that “no guests were harmed,” witnesses and media reports, including those from Metro and BBC, consistently noted that two people—a young girl and a woman—were indeed injured and required hospital treatment. First aid was administered at the scene by a quick-thinking fellow diner, and the injuries, while not life-threatening, were enough to rattle nerves throughout the restaurant community.
The incident has raised questions about the recent refurbishment of the Brockworth site. Completed just a year earlier, the £500,000 renovation was intended to modernize the popular chain restaurant. Now, with maintenance contractors set to carry out urgent repairs, many regulars are left wondering how such a catastrophic failure could happen so soon after such a significant investment. The cause of the collapse has not yet been made public, and Toby Carvery has not commented on whether the recent renovations played any role.
For the families who experienced the collapse, the memory of that Sunday dinner will linger. As Joey Pass told BBC Gloucestershire, “My daughter keeps asking about the little girl that the roof fell on.” The frightened cries of children, the sight of untouched plates left behind, and the swift response of both staff and fellow diners paint a vivid picture of a community shaken but grateful for the absence of more serious injuries.
In the coming days, the restaurant’s care team will reach out to those affected, and repairs will begin in earnest. As the dust literally and figuratively settles, the Brockworth Toby Carvery faces the challenge of regaining the trust of its patrons. But for now, the priority remains clear: ensuring the safety and well-being of those who simply came for a Sunday roast and left with a story they’ll never forget.
