The fountain attracts about 800,000 visitors a year. Bob Monroe, whose firm, Cirencester Engineers, was called in to repair it, told The Daily Mail the facility is a "disaster."

"Hundreds of liters are leaking away every day and as a result it's causing subsidence and making the paths rise up and buckle," Monroe said. "The only way to fix the problem is to pull it all down and start again. Otherwise, it will continue to fall apart and more and more money will be spent on it. (The Royal Parks) don't want people to find out how badly it is leaking so they keep paying for temporary measures. I was told when it was built the contractors didn't have time to do it properly."

A representative for the Royal Parks Agency denied the fountain is "an engineering disaster."

"It is not sinking, subsiding or leaking," the representative told the Mail, adding that some "minor leakage" and "settling" are to be expected.