Trouble At The Mill

Recent flooding has had a devastating effect on Oundle Mill. The restaurant and hotel, located on the banks of the River Nene just outside Oundle, was forced to close on 24 November and will not reopen until further notice

Three-and-a-half feet of water submerged the ground floor causing extensive damage to the structure and contents. The financial burden has been eased slightly as the business is insured against flood damage, but it has still had a huge impact on lost custom and Oundle Mill will not be open for Christmas or New Year.

Operations director Rufus Harper admits

We’re still counting the cost of all the repairs and lost trade. Losing the Christmas bookings is probably the biggest disappointment as it was going to be the best Christmas we’ve ever had with the most reservations, and now we’ve had to phone lots of disappointed customers!

Rufus is anxious to get the building reopened as soon as possible, but the repair work can’t commence until it is dry enough. Initial estimates placed the drying-out stage at anything up to 8-9 weeks although luckily the property appears to be drying out a lot quicker than expected.

We’re a business and we want to be open! Being closed, people will soon forget about you. We will certainly be shouting about it when we reopen. In the meantime our communications are back up and running so we are able to take future bookings

www.oundlemill.co.uk