The widow of a Marylebone war veteran has called for a change in building law after her husband died falling down stairs without a handrail.
Second World War tank corps veteran Michael Goldhill, 84, of Nottingham Terrace, slipped down 20 steps at Café de Paris in Coventry Street, West End, on April 21 and died from his injuries three days later.
His wife Pamela - who fell with him - warned him to take care just seconds before the accident and believes her husband could have been saved if the stairs had a handrail.
She said: "I specifically said to him 'hold on to me tight', because there was no handrail for him to grip.
"We've been married since 1950 and I said to him we've got two years to go until our 60th anniversary. He was a lovely man and it's a horrible thing to have happened, but hopefully now something will be done about putting handrails in other buildings."
Café de Paris manager Keith Moore has since agreed to install a handrail at the venue.
Deputy coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe recorded a verdict of accidental death on Wednesday, saying: "There is a likelihood he could have grabbed onto a handrail if there had been one, but Café de Paris is an old listed building and it has not required a handrail to be put in when it was first built."
A communities and local government department spokesman said: "Building regulations apply to newly-built properties. They do not apply retrospectively to existing buildings, as this would be unenforceable. However, building regulations are only one part of the standards that businesses must meet to protect the health and safety of staff and customers."
