Pubs suffer in flooding

Licensees in South Yorkshire are counting the cost of horrific flood damage caused by devastating floods this week.

Scores of pub cellars were flooded following the heaviest rainfall seen in the area for years. Worst affected areas were Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham where blocked roads meant many pubs could not receive dray deliveries or other supplies.

In Sheffield the Kelham Island Brewery and the adjoining Fat Cat pub were badly damaged as the nearby River Don burst its banks. The street was like a raging river and in the cellar barrels were floating around in four foot of water.​Diane Johnson, of the Fat Cat pub, Sheffield.

Staff at the pub tried to bail out water from the pub's cellar after the road outside was turned into a river.

Staff member Diane Johnson said:"The street was like a raging river and in the cellar barrels were floating around in four foot of water."​

Licensee Christine Scott of the Pack Horse, Royston near Barnsley said delivery companies had contacted her to say services had been suspended.

"I have never seen rain like it in years, nobody can really believe the scale of flooding,"​ she said.

One pub, the Mill Of The Black Monks, was flooded for the second time in a fortnight and earlier this week was standing in its own lake.

Host Dennis Griffiths of the Miners Rest, Barnsley, said scores of pubs had seen their cellars flooded.

"We escaped without incident but other pubs have been swamped and there will be a lot of damage to sort out.​

"The main problem afterwards was getting about because so many roads were blocked," he said.