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A Nova Scotia man has received a “pardon” from the Fairmont Empress for his lifetime ban from the iconic Victoria hotel after he inadvertently trashed one of their rooms with a pack of pepperoni and a flock of seagulls.

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It all happened 17 years ago when Nick Burchill booked a room at the Empress for a work conference. Burchill was also in the Canadian Naval Reserve and his Navy buddies asked that he bring some Brother’s pepperoni, a Halifax delicacy.

“Because this was the Navy we were talking about, I brought enough for a ship,” Burchill wrote in a March 28 Facebook post about the ordeal, which has gone viral.

His pepperoni-packed suitcase was misplaced by the airline, so it arrived in Victoria a day late.

Burchill knew the pepperoni was likely still edible but he thought the most food-safe thing to do would be to keep it cool until he turned over the goods.

His fourth-floor room facing the Inner Harbour was large but lacking a refrigerator.