A York publican has been forced out of his home and his pub after floodwaters inundated both.
Gavin Patterson described the scene at the Ship Inn, Acaster Malbis, as ‘utter devastation’.
The water surged through both the pub and the nearby cottage where he lives last night.
It’s the second time since he took over the Ship that it’s been flooded – four days after he moved in in January 2021 the waters came in.
But he said this is much worse – with around nine inches of water (23cm) on the ground floor.
“It’s bad enough for your business to be flooded – but to have both your home and your business affected, it’s a little bit rough,” he told YorkMix.
Gavin said the area around the pub was underwater too. It was worse than he was expecting after the forecast for the peak of the floodwaters was downgraded to less than that in 2021.
Being susceptible to flooding, The Ship has electric pumps which are now being deployed. They also moved all the kitchen equipment to safety when the water came through.
But it will be out of action for at least ten days, Gavin thinks. First the waters have to recede, then the pub needs to be professionally cleaned.
“Coming out of Covid, it couldn’t be any worse,” said Gavin, who also runs the – thankfully dry – Red Lion at Knapton.
“We were just starting to recover, and this happens. It’s been a shocking two years.”
More positively, he has found somewhere to live. Having seen his plight, the neighbouring Chestnut Farm got in touch and is letting Gavin stay in one of their static holiday caravans free of charge while his cottage is out of bounds.
Gav described it as an ‘incredible’ offer: “It cheers you up a lot,” he said.
He added: “We live in a beautiful place for 51 weeks a year. And in a place like this it’s going to happen. You have to be philosophical about it.”