Floods devastate pubs

A heroic licensee who led 100 local people and tourists to safety during the Boscastle floods has returned to find his pub completely devastated.

Paul Robertson, licensee at the Wellington Hotel, helped people out of his bar five minutes before the ground floor was submerged in 100 tonnes of water.

Locals and tourists visiting the Cornish village had been sheltering in the pub, under siege from freak storms, but Mr Roberts decided to clear out as the river running beneath the pub looked ready to burst.

His quick thinking turned out to be one of the miracles that prevented any deaths during the natural disaster.

When Mr Robertson returned to his pub a week later the water had snapped 14 oak beams, leaving it in ruins.

"I won't be operating again for six months," said Mr Robertson, who had spent 19 months refurbishing his pub before the storms struck.

"The river burst and it took out the first floor completely. At the moment the bath is sitting on the bar. It's a scene of complete and utter devastation."

Fortunately Mr Robertson's insurance means he will at least be covered for loss of business while he is closed.

Up the road from Mr Roberts, Adrian Bright, licensee of the Cobweb, also saw water flood his pub but the damage was not as severe and he was open within the week.

Further up the hill, Ron Muffett in the Napoleon Inn escaped any damage at all, making him the only pub in the town able to offer refuge for locals and tourists. "My pub became a bit of a bolthole during the floods," said Mr Muffett. "But I have a restaurant in the town and that has been wrecked so my fortunes have been mixed. I don't think anything like this has happened here for 50 years."

The floods devastated Boscastle at the start of a two-week period that saw storms batter towns across the UK.

Elsewhere the Stag Inn in Penrith, Cumbria, was hit by torrential rain on Friday with floods meaning it will be closed for months. Pubs by the River Wye in the Welsh border town of Chepstow are also closed after downpours there burst the river's banks last Monday.