The Boat inn in Jackfield (Ironbridge) has yet again been flooded. Take a look inside and chat to the landlord.
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00:00 [Beeping]
00:06 Mario, so we're just in kind of the main area now.
00:10 Yes.
00:11 And we can see you've got the chairs up there, you've got some chairs up on the bar.
00:15 So you had a bit of a warning, but it kind of took you by surprise still didn't it?
00:19 How it came kind of in the evening.
00:21 Well, the depth of it was to us by surprise.
00:24 Yeah.
00:25 I didn't think it would be anywhere near the height that it is.
00:30 Yeah.
00:31 Unfortunately, the peak, the river peaking kept being moved by the Environment Agency
00:37 because they didn't know how much rain was going to be falling.
00:41 Yeah.
00:42 In the Midlands and Wales.
00:44 So, yeah, unfortunately, what should have been a high level turned into a, well, not a high level.
00:54 Well, yeah, we can see, I mean, if we just look at some of the devastation that you were left with.
01:00 So I've used some old tables that we don't use to put the furniture on.
01:06 These are the old tables.
01:07 Yeah.
01:08 This is not normally in the pub.
01:09 So I didn't mind if I lost these anyway because it was irrelevant.
01:13 Yeah.
01:14 But unfortunately, the water was that fierce.
01:18 Yeah.
01:19 It took everything away that was sitting on top of the tables.
01:22 Yeah.
01:23 And it's worth mentioning, you're going to use this as an opportunity to make a couple of changes in the pub.
01:31 I mean, it's a beautiful old pub.
01:33 Obviously, at the minute, it's not looking right at its best, but you're going to kind of embellish that even more, aren't you, and just go with that even more.
01:39 Yeah.
01:40 We're going to give it a little bit of a makeover and just change the doors.
01:51 Keeping that charm.
01:52 It's not going to become a Eurosports bar.
01:54 Yeah.
01:55 I mean, in terms of people in the know, this is such a special pub, but you're just down, aren't you, really, from the main town.
02:05 So you don't kind of get the full joy of the tourism dollar coming in.
02:09 No, that's right.
02:10 It's certainly nice.
02:11 Yeah.
02:12 So we were having a chat off camera, and we were saying that it'd be nice if there was perhaps something a bit more could be done up main town, just to plug what little gems we've got down.
02:20 Yes.
02:21 We've got down for a little bit.
02:22 There's plenty of pubs away from the main town that's unique in their characters and what they offer.
02:29 Yeah.
02:30 It's like us.
02:31 It's a traditional community pub.
02:34 Yeah.
02:35 Not an eatery pub.
02:36 Yeah.
02:37 When the fire's going.
02:39 So you have that going, do you, with the flames?
02:41 Yeah.
02:42 Yes.
02:43 Oh, that bit's lovely in the winter.
02:44 Yeah.
02:45 So basically, it's a case of massive, massive wash down.
02:49 The beer's gone, so that'll have to be restocked.
02:52 Yes.
02:53 Furniture-wise, what'll happen?
02:54 Will some of this stuff get washed off?
02:57 Yeah, a lot of this is salvageable.
02:59 Some of the old furniture, as I say, we've used some old furniture that we don't normally use to store stock on it.
03:07 Yeah.
03:08 So yeah, there's a few items here I know we're going to lose.
03:11 Yeah.
03:12 But my concern is the main bar area.
03:16 It looks okay.
03:18 Yeah.
03:19 Obviously, some of the wood has swelled.
03:22 Yeah, we were seeing that with the doors and that, and yeah, we can see that.
03:26 So they have swelled, but they'll go back.
03:30 Yeah.
03:31 So we've got to ask the question, Barry.
03:32 I mean, you've lived around this way for a few years.
03:35 You've had the pub for a couple of years now.
03:37 Yeah.
03:38 So you knew what you were taking on in terms of floods?
03:41 I did, 100%.
03:42 I knew exactly.
03:43 I'd entered the pub previously with the previous landlord helping move furniture, so I knew what was on.
03:49 Yeah.
03:50 So do you envisage that this place will flood?
03:54 In your head now, are you thinking, you know what, it's probably going to be once a year?
03:58 Or are you thinking...
03:59 Well, it's happened three times in 12 months, so...
04:01 Three times in 12 months?
04:02 Yes.
04:03 So January 23, October 23, and naturally New Year's Eve.
04:10 No way.
04:11 So in terms of the history of the pub, you know, if you went back 50 years, there's no way that would be happening.
04:16 It's there three times a year.
04:18 Well, I don't know.
04:19 I haven't got every historical date.
04:22 I'd love to get some more data as to how many times it flooded previously.
04:26 Yeah, yeah.
04:27 And we know it's...
04:28 Yeah, you were saying actually, yeah, going back to like 1700s, 1800s and that kind of...
04:31 Yes, we've got records of it happening 1926 and '29.
04:36 Yeah.
04:37 And there's some on the door here, which is the old flood door.
04:41 Is that March '46, '47, up the top there?
04:46 Yeah.
04:47 1929, lower down.
04:49 Yeah.
04:50 Yeah, I mean, is it global warming?
04:53 How long is global warming going?
04:55 Yeah.
04:56 So if, I mean, you know, some people might go, "Oh, that's a load of hassle."
05:00 You know, where's your head at in that space?
05:04 You know, if you're going to be content, it's difficult enough running a pub, the hours you put in.
05:09 I know.
05:10 But if you're going to be having to contend with this once, twice or three times a year, let's God help, you know, that becomes the norm.
05:17 But is it a case of, you know what, I love this place, I love the river, I can bear it, I can crack on and...
05:23 That is that area it is.
05:24 Yeah.
05:25 That is that area.
05:26 The community that come into it, the people of this area that come into this pub, there's just wonderful people,
05:32 it's a wonderful area, I can't knock it in any shape or form.
05:36 Yeah, this is a severe flood.
05:39 The previous two floods that I've had to go through previously were, we turned it around quite quick.
05:46 I'm eager to get it turned around as quickly as possible, but I'm eager to turn it into a bit more, I don't know, just change it a little bit.
05:53 I'm only going to tweak it, not much.
05:56 And this is a golden opportunity now to tweak the pub, get it back up and running and make it, and give the pub back to the community.
06:05 Have you got, do you know any stats on like, in terms of pubs flooding, you know, is this one of the ones that gets flooded the most in the country?
06:13 Is there any kind of...
06:14 Oh, do you know, I'm afraid, I really don't know that.
06:17 I'm sure there's a lot of pubs in the country that flood as much as I do.
06:22 I think the fact that this pub has been here 300 years, and it's the most well-known pub in the area.
06:32 I don't know, I'm sure there's other pubs that flood as much as I do, in Shrewsbury and down in Worcester area and on the River Severn.
06:41 I've been up to Yorkshire and saw the devastation in Nottinghamshire, so I'm sure there's pubs there that's probably, I don't know if it's the freak for them or not,
06:49 but we are regular, we are on the river bank, it is regular.
06:52 I mean, perhaps Shropshire Council are missing a thing up on Main Town there, in terms of, you know, plugging this as kind of, you know, a feature, in a way, do you know what I mean?
07:06 Yeah, they don't actually publicise Jackfield and its pubs in the area enough.
07:12 And the fact that, you know, if you come and see a pub like this, and everyone loves a story about a pub, well this one's got plenty of stories hasn't it?
07:20 You know what I mean?
07:21 Of course, they've got the museums around it as well, which is the Toll Museum, which is up the river there.
07:26 There's the tyre tunnel, Blitz Hill, it's just over the river from us.
07:31 So all those are all in wonderful walking, walks around the back of us and down to the wood bridge and back.
07:39 Yeah, it's got everything.
07:40 Wouldn't it be lovely to see a boat trip from the Main Town down to come and explore one of the most flooded pubs in Britain, the Historic Boating, wouldn't that be cracking?
07:49 Wouldn't that be brilliant.
07:50 It would be brilliant.
07:51 So Mario, we're just in, effectively, your cellar.
08:00 It's kind of a little bit raised up from the pub level, and this is one room where the water doesn't seep up through the floor.
08:07 So you were saying this potentially, a flood defence on the door could do some good here.
08:13 It would, it would do a massive, it would ease a lot of our problems.
08:18 This is the one room with the most, obviously the beer, which we need obviously, and if we've got a flood door here now, thinking about it, this would diminish a lot of our problems.
08:33 Yeah, because it gives me that saying, all the beer, all your drinks in your pub, that's all got to be written off in it.
08:39 Of course it has.
08:40 And it's still a, you're not 100% sure whether that'll be covered on the insurance, we cross our fingers.
08:45 Well, we haven't got insurance, that's the problem.
08:48 Yeah.
08:49 Because of the history of the pub.
08:52 Okay.
08:53 But any preventive measures that would work would be a bonus for us.
08:57 Yeah.
08:58 And this is the most important part of the pub.
09:00 Well you're saying if it was, if that defence was on the door, you could also use it as a bit of a refuge room for some of the fixings from the main pub.
09:07 Oh yes, absolutely. The fridges could be stored back into here.
09:10 So we could alter the way this operates.
09:14 Yeah.
09:15 So we could, the doors and everything come off quite easily in the bar area.
09:21 And these could be stored in there very quickly, without having to use the steps, which can be a bit vicious and keep going up and down the stairs.
09:28 So yeah, so logistically it would be viable that if we've got a safe room, i.e. this room, this would be, this would resolve a lot of our problems.
09:39 Yeah.
09:40 So Mario, we just, we're outside here, so I've just kind of walked across the garden.
09:44 What I didn't appreciate is how thick the mud is that's been left on the lawn.
09:48 Yes.
09:49 And you were saying you're even going to have to jet wash the garden down?
09:52 So we're going to have to jet wash where all the benches go. And all the benches will have to be jet washed.
09:58 Yeah.
09:59 Which you can see have now moved from this area to the brook.
10:02 Yeah.
10:03 And also there's tables from that side of the pub down the lane, they're all going to be recoloured and jet washed.
10:11 And jet washed.
10:12 Before anybody even thinks about sitting down.
10:14 Yeah.
10:15 So Mario, you're hoping to be back up and running, pulling pints in what, two, three weeks, we're thinking?
10:20 Two to three weeks.
10:21 Two to three weeks?
10:22 Yeah, two to three weeks.
10:23 And you did say in there, are we allowed to say on camera, when you did see it first off, you did shed a couple of tears, didn't you?
10:29 Oh, yeah.
10:30 Yeah.
10:31 And I guess the message to people is, the Boating is the historic pub, it is the story of Owen Bridge in terms of pubs.
10:38 Come down in a few weeks and bring your wallet.
10:41 [Laughs]
10:42 Please.
10:43 Please.
10:44 [Laughs]
10:45 Yeah.
10:46 Right, all the best with it Mario.
10:48 Thank you very much, Stephen.