Six inches of sewage spells 10 months of hell for pub landlord

Apr 28 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

A MERSEYSIDE landlord is heading for financial distress and could shut his pub after being flooded out 10 months ago.

The pub’s cellar was deluged with six inches of sewage water when a nearby manhole blocked up.

Water company United Utilities sent engineers when the flood appeared but it took three days to clear, allowing the level to rise and reach inlets into the cellar.

After being closed by the environmental health office for seven weeks, the landlord says the stigma has not worn off.

Drinkers have deserted Melling’s Horse and Jockey watering hole, despite £100,000 being spent on clean-up costs and a complete refit.

Don Griffiths, the landlord for nine years, said: “If we have a good summer, it should be all right. But if it pours down like last summer, then I could be pulling down the shutters.

“If it was rainwater, it’d have been all right, but because it was contaminated all my stock and equipment had to be skipped,” said Mr Griffiths – a drainage engineer for more than 20 years before entering the pub business.

Mr Griffiths says he is losing £4,500 per week and has lost £200,000 since the flood hit on June 13 last year. He has not paid himself a salary since then.

Mr Griffiths received an insurance payout of £31,000 for the damage, but has spent far more than that on a new kitchen, disin-fecting and repainting the cellar and sprucing up the bar areas.

“The insurance money disappeared into nothing,” he added. ”It went on outstanding details and bills. We used to have 200 to 250 people in here on Friday. Between 10pm and 1.30am, this place would be rammed.

“We’d been 15 months building it up to that level. Last Friday we locked up at 12.30, before it was 2am. The place was empty.”

Because of the downturn, Mr Griffiths has had to reduce his staff’s hours by 40%.

The flood was caused by a nearby blocked manhole that caused the system to overflow .

Mr Griffiths, 57, said it took engineers three days to find and clear the blockage. United Utilities sent three pumps to the site and the company says it helped clean up the pub.

The landlord says water was spurting into the Jockey’s underground cellar “like a jet of water”, and through the gas and electricity supplies.

United Utilities say since the flood they have given the sewers a thorough clean to reduce the risk of repeat flooding.

A spokesman said: “Sewers overflowed at Waddicar Lane following heavy rain. We quickly had a team of engineers on site to deal with the incident.”

Mr Griffiths added: “I pay a fortune in rates and water rates and all I know is that I’m not getting my money’s worth.

“Who do I put a claim in to? And I’ve gone through all my savings – how am I going to pay for solicitors? Before the flood, I didn’t owe money to anyone.”

benschofield