Recovery underway at flood-hit pubs

The pub trade is slowly getting back on its feet after floods caused devastation in large parts of the country.

At the height of the flooding, two weeks ago, up to 500 pubs were closed, mainly in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.

Punch Taverns has announced that 100 of its 150 flood-hit pubs have re-opened and other pubcos have reported that licensees are gradually returning to business as normal.

Alan Booth, of the Angel Vaults, in Evesham, Worcs, said: "Things are looking up. Punch has waived my rent payments till I'm back up and running - it's a great weight off my mind. We've also had good news from the builders, the pub's going to be shut for 10 weeks - initially I thought it might be six months."

The doors have been closed at the Berkeley Arms, in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, for about three weeks but licensee Ian Phillips is confident the pub will be trading by next week.

"We're beginning to see the light. The cellar took the worst of it and the sanitation certificate for that has come through from the contractors," he said. "We're moving forward with the insurance too - slowly but surely. We had a loss adjuster in, but I think it's going to be a long time till we see anything."

The Fish & Anchor, in

Offenham, just outside Eve-sham, can only open for one hour a day, but is still selling bottles while host Steve Brittain waits for his insurance pay out to arrive.

He said: "It's very important to us to provide somewhere for our locals. We're a customer-focused business. Our staff have been very understanding; we can only afford to pay a few full-time people."