Damp

stuart45

Driving rain can penetrate the outer brickwork and run down the cavity. If you have a metal Catnic lintel it will have it's own tray.

AbbyCarr98

The bar has literally just been plastered over. A lump of the plaster came off a while back due to the bathroom leaking. Shouldn’t there be something else over it? 

stuart45

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=kpudZ9t7&id=C8CE31B151952028A03C64B4C19A631FDA0B56A2&thid=OIP.kpudZ9t7uiULc_lmKigj_QHaFj&mediaurl=https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY4WDEwMjQ=/z/ybwAAOSwD5BZa8~1/$_86.JPG&exph=768&expw=1024&q=old+catnic+boot+lintels&simid=608024655410693656&selectedIndex=62&ajaxhist=0
The old Catnic lintels looked like this and the render/plaster was applied directly to them.

AbbyCarr98

Any ideas where the water could be coming from? Obviously we don’t have weather like this that often.

stuart45

Take a photo from further back, showing all the front flank.

AbbyCarr98

Is that sufficient?

stuart45

It looks like a Cross wall construction house from the 60's early 70's. Some of them did have problems if an RSJ was used above the frames.

AbbyCarr98

Is there anything we can possibly do? We’d like to fix the broken plaster and repaint the Kitchen, but doesn’t seem any point if we don’t rectify the issues.

stuart45

You could get a builder to have a look and tell you what he thinks. It's sometimes difficult to give accurate advice from photos. 
It could be a combination of penetrating damp and condensation. When walls are damp they are a bit colder and attract more moisture.