A pub forced to shut by severe flooding has re-opened its doors.
Staff at the Old Mill Pub on Wakefield Road, Brighouse, battled adversity to open for customers today Sunday, eight days since part of it was left submerged by 6ft of water.
And diners were quick to get sat down by roaring fires when it opened at noon – and many didn’t realise it had even been shut.
Staff had initially tried to get back into action on New Year’s Eve when 180 diners were booked in, but were simply unable to turn it around in time.
“It’s great to be back open”, said Ian Brown, general manager today.
“The water filled the cellars but luckily it did not reach the dining and bar area. There’s still lots of work to do.
“The cellars need a total refit and several kitchen appliances need replacing.
“We lost £10,000 of food and drink stock and we were only able to get our first food order delivered for today which cost us another £3,000.
“But we’re serving our roasts and other hot meals and we are trying to do as much as we can.
“I’d like to thank our facilities manager Terry Grech for getting us to where we are now.”
Mr Brown added: “We still don’t have any heating because the boiler was totally ruined but our fires are on and we hope to get temporary heaters up and running later.
“We’ve got fully stocked alcohol fridges but the cask pumps are not working as the pipes were contaminated.
More images from the re-opening
“We hope to have the boiler fixed as soon as specialist parts can be found and the pumps should be back on by the end of the week.
“It’s great to see people here and we’ll just have to wait until the end of the day to see how busy we’ve been.
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“But one thing’s for sure, we won’t be closing again unless another flood hits.”
People dining there were glad to support the pub.
One, Paul Wilson, from Scunthorpe, said: “We come here to meet up with our friends from Manchester.
More flood clean-up pictures below
“We’re lucky to have booked for today and we didn’t realise it had been affected, although I knew there had been flooding locally.
“It’s good to support businesses struck by floods because it’s devastating when people get flooded out.”
Christine Brennan from Hipperholme was with her mum and dad Monica and Liam Brennan.
“I’ve heard tales about how businesses can struggle to reopen so it’s good to see this one has,” she said.
“The staff have been very welcoming to us.”
