Pub uses novel ways to stay open with no water

A pub in Herefordshire has been forced to come up with "unique methods" to keep the business open after having issues with its water supply.

Paul English, who runs the Kings Head in Docklow, said the pub has always suffered from low pressure due to the altitude it is situated at. But for the last two weeks, at about 19:00 BST, there has been no water supply at all.

Staff are now using a tea urn to heat up water, as well as having to re-fill cisterns after a customer has used the toilet. English said the business was just doing its "best to survive".

Welsh Water said the poor water supply had been caused by "extreme heat" and it urged customers to use "water wisely".

Discussing the last two weeks, English said: "The environmental health people told us if we don't have hot running water then we can't open and we have to close.

"We can't do the washing up because we do a lot of food here, so it's causing us a load of problems."

He added: "We've got a tea urn that I now fill up every morning while we have water and we turn that right down low so it's about 38 to 40 degrees. It's just hot water.

"We use that to wash our hands with while we haven't got any water. That's managed to keep the pub open."

But the "worst thing of all" has been the toilets, which has even required staff going in each time a customer uses them.

"Luckily, in the gents I put in waterless urinals so the gents can go in for a wee without too much trouble," English continued.

"But the actual toilets, we now have to watch customers if they go into the sit down toilets.

"We then go in after them, and unscrew the cisterns, take the top off and pour five litres of water in and screw the top back on."

A Welsh Water spokesperson added: "To help keep supplies flowing, hundreds of front-line colleagues are working around the clock, increasing water production, moving water around the network and fixing leaks as quickly as possible.

"We are responding to unprecedented levels of demand but it's getting closer to the point where supplying water quickly enough to meet demand becomes increasingly challenging."

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