Close shave for flood pubs

Related tags Flood Tropical cyclone Weather

Licensees in the Midlands and Yorkshire are breathing a sigh of relief after narrowly escaping a repeat of the floods that devastated Britain last...

Licensees in the Midlands and Yorkshire are breathing a sigh of relief after narrowly escaping a repeat of the floods that devastated Britain last summer.

Some pubs were less than a foot away from being flooded - and were still cleaning up after the summer floods.

Steve Brittain, of the Fish

& Anchor in Offenham, Worcestershire, said: "We had about a foot to go - a bit more rain and we would have gone under.

"It's gone down a lot, but it's going to be a close week.

"Our flooding comes

down from Derbyshire and Leicestershire, which have been forecast with heavy rain."

Licensee Gerry Boazman's White Bear in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, reopened on 1 December, five months after being flooded.

Boazman said: "It was looking pretty grim. We've spent £300,000 refitting the site -

I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like if we flooded again."

Pubs in East Yorkshire have also scarcely avoided potential devastation.

After almost continuous rainfall only small pockets of localised flooding have been reported in the region.

Nigel Turpin, corporate affairs director at Punch Taverns, said: "Thankfully, it's a near-miss situation.

"The flood damage has been much less than expected and we only have a handful of pubs affected in the Midlands and north-east. Damage has been minimal and most of our pubs are now up and trading."

The pubco has reported six sites affected, including the Old Mill in Huddersfield, which has a flooded cellar, and the Plank & Leggit, in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, which has a flooded car park.

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