By Andre Sobol

A confrontation between a runner and an agitated man causing a disturbance along the canal yesterday morning and delayed the opening of the nearby Soar Point pub.

Usually welcoming in patrons at 11:30am for its Tuesday Pancake deal, pub staff said they were forced to intervene after the incident escalated and the runner was attacked by the man.

Witnesses said the man had already been causing a public disturbance before the incident, harassing passersby under the bridge.

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Ally Towers, who was working at the bar at the time, saw the incident from across the canal just before she was about to open.

She said: “I could hear shouting. It would stop and start, but it was very aggressive. He was approaching anyone who was near and slurring out threats.”

Visibly confused, according to witnesses who did not want to be named, the man was acting strangely, making eye contact with a swan, spitting at it and attempting to fight it, almost tripping into the canal.

Concerned pedestrians called police, but he had gone before they arrived. The runner was not hurt and carried on.