Burrs café closes and customers evacuated from flooding

Nicola Gregson who owns the Lamppost Café with her husband, Mark Wellman-Riggs, was working when she discovered a burst pipe and around two inches of water. 

Having to evacuate customers from the café, Nicola said if it had happened just three hours later, the place would have been devastated.  

She said: “I was working in the kitchen downstairs when water started pooling underneath one of the fridges but assumed the fridge was defrosting or acting up.  

“Our upstairs function room was booked for dance training and I heard a noise from the room. 

“Thinking it was the dancers, I popped my head in to say hello and just found water cascading down from the ceiling.”  

The burst pipe left around two inches of water in the room and customers had to be evacuated from the café.  

As a result of the burst pipe, functions at the venue have had to be cancelled.  

Nicola said: “If it had happened three hours later or on a day we are closed, the place would have been devastated.  

“The volume of water coming down could have collapsed the ceiling and the floors would have gone.” 

Despite having to close their doors, Nicola and Mark believe that the damage isn't too bad after receiving the thumbs up from an electrician.  

The team are waiting on a final damage assessment but have been working through the night using humidifiers and heaters to try and help dry the venue.  

Flooding after a burst pipe at the Lamppost Cafe, Burrs (Image: Public)

Nicola added: “We aren't too sure when we will re-open as we had to switch the mains off and our boiler is frozen so we have no running water.  

“We hope to open Saturday or Sunday even if all we can do is get the water back running so that the bathrooms work.

"Then, at least, we can open for tea and cake if not anything else.”  

After posting a video of the flooding on Facebook, Nicola said she was amazed by how many people offered to come and help, from offering industrial water removal machines to just coming down with a bucket.  

Thanking her customers and staff for their help she added that they hope to re-open and see everyone again soon.