Oundle Mill Reopens

Four months after it was forced to close due to severe flooding, Oundle Mill celebrated reopening on 29 March

The boutique restaurant and hotel, located on the banks of the River Nene, was submerged under three feet of water during the floods that affected the region in November and December last year. The ground floor was the worst affected area, and took eight weeks to dry out before repair work could begin.

Although the business was insured from flood damage, which was estimated to have cost up to £150,000, the company suffered from the loss of custom over the busy Christmas period as Operations Director Rufus Harper revealed:

We had to cancel all our Christmas parties, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New year’s Eve bookings. This was going to be our most successful festive season ever based on the reservations we had! We have also missed Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day – all key dates that always see us very busy and so this has been frustrating

The damage has now been fully repaired with the building being carefully refurbished with extra defences to protect against damage from flooding in the future.

Rufus explains:

We have based our refurbishment on the assumption that there will be future floods around Oundle and have therefore taken our recent learning in how we are prepared for the future – from having alternative structural designs internally – which caused the major flooding – to rebuilding/sealing some of the old stone work to also installing some of the latest design flood barrier equipment on doorways and key flooding areas around the building

To celebrate its reopening, the restaurant has created a new menu priced at £14.95 for three courses for lunch or dinner every Thursday in April and May and Rufus is happy to report since re-opening the venue has been busier than ever.

We are delighted to have finally re-opened and are very pleased with the level of interest and business already in the first three weeks of being re-open. It has been fantastic to see lots of our regular customers returning, we’ve already hosted two weddings and the reservations
book is starting to fill up nicely!

For more information visit: https://www.oundlemill.co.uk/