Pubs battle against flood devastation
Flood-hit pubs have revealed the devastation severe weather has had on their businesses.
Staff at the Joiners Arms in Morpeth, Northumberland, tried to battle on throughout the storms at the weekend.
Licensee George Hall shut the doors of the pub at 8pm on Saturday as the River Wansbeck burst its banks.
Undeterred he carried on serving customers as two inches of water lapped around their ankles.
"They couldn't get out. It was like we were on an island. Three of them had to stay the night", he said.
At its peak the flood waters reached the bottom of the lounge windows, four feet above ground level.
As the flood waters rose on Saturday night Morpeth was cut off. An estimated 1,000 properties were flooded and hundreds of people had to spend the night in temporary accommodation.
Other parts of the country, including Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcester and North Yorkshire were also hit by the floods.
The clean-up operation started at the Joiners on Sunday, with the fire brigade pumping water from flooded properties.
George added: "We have just got rid of all the muck, but more rain is expected. We are battening down the hatches."
The cellar of the next door hotel, The Waterford Lodge was also flooded, but was hoping to reopen yesterday to provide accommodation for those left homeless by the floods.
"Luckily the ground floor is okay and we are going to open up to house and feed people", said hotel manager Paul Sinclaird.
Floods also caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage to pubs across the country last year.
Tony Payne, chief executive of the Federation Licensed Victuallers' Associations, said: "It's so sad because people put so much into their businesses.
"The problem is there is not much pubs can do except notify the insurance company and the pub company if there is one involved. They just have to try and save what stock they can."
