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From the
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk. By Rebecca Flood. 14 Nov 2014.
The Coney in West Wickham which is now "a boat" is finally reopening after
nine months due to ceaseless flooding.
A West Wickham pub is finally reopening after being "turned into a
boat" following nine months of closure due to flooding.
The Coney, in Croydon Road, was forced to shut in February after the
torrential flooding most of the UK experienced.
However, while the rest of the country dried out, water kept on gushing
into The Coney.
The cellar of the pub was awash with more than three feet of water in
some places - which did not stop rising until around June.
Chairman of Mountain Range Restaurants who own the eatery, Stephen May,
explained: "We couldn't figure out where the water was coming from, was
it rain? Was it the water table? Or was it the water authority? At one
point Thames Water thought it was a burst water main."
In an attempt to find the source of the mysterious leak, Thames Water
even closed off and dug up the road to try and find the possible burst
water main - with no luck.
To this day, Mr May confirmed they are not quite sure what caused the
never ending leak, but in the end all parties and insurance companies
simply came together and compromised.
He added: "They were trying to test the water to see if it came from the
sky, the ground, or from a water treatment centre. But when it's been
sitting in a basement you can't figure it out."
The water was finally able to be pumped out after it stopped rising in
June, but the cellar and everything in it was a write-off.
Mr May said: "The water came up as high to affect the electricity.
Basically everything below the water line had to be removed and
replaced; fridges, ovens, kegs, everything.
"The cellar was like a boat with a leak, they had to tank it, which
means giving it a new skin. The basement is like a boat now."
However, more damage was caused during the much-needed repair work.
Mr May, 54, said: "They had to dig out a lot of stuff - we had a
concrete staircase which they had to chip away! Massive damage was
caused to fix it - repairing everything caused more damage!
"Of course now we're world experts in building, but it's probably never
going to happen again."
The façade was not the only thing to suffer, as managers who lived above
the building - who had a young daughter - were rehoused in rented
accommodation after the electricity had to be shut off.
After many months with no open date in site, the staff also found other
employment, but Mr May said there's always room for them if they wanted to
return.
He added: "At one point we weren't sure if we were ever going to reopen.
It would never have happened if people hadn't helped; chefs even got out
paintbrushes and started painting!"
First opening around five years ago, The Coney can finally announce it
will be throwing open its doors to the public once again, with a grand
reopening planned for November 26.
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