Flood-hit businesses look to leave landmark building

Liam Robinson is urgently looking for a new home for his wrestling school

Business owners working from a flood-hit city landmark are fed up with repeated water damage.

Two companies, Slad Valley Mushrooms and Top Team MMA, intend to leave Moreland's Trading Estate in Gloucester.

A third, Evolution Wrestling Academy, must move by the end of the year. "You can't breathe properly here due to the mould," said head coach Liam Robinson.

A spokesperson for Helix Property Limited, which manages the building, said: "We are sympathetic in terms of the disruption to our customers and will deal with them in a fair and reasonable manner."

Around 40 trainees at Evolution will be without a home if a suitable site is not found.

During recent bad weather the company said water was gushing down the wall of its unit at the Bristol Road industrial estate, onto an electrical junction box, and the roof is in need of essential repairs.

These mats belonging to a martial arts gym in Morelands were damaged by sewage rising up from the floor

The water shorted the electricity supply for Evolution and neighbours Slad Valley Mushrooms.

"This is supposed to be something that's fun, and instead we're taking an hour from each session brushing a swimming pool out of the door," Mr Robinson said.

"It's put trainees off attending our classes. Repairing the damage when we knew about it a few years ago could have saved our academy, it's now too late and that's the frustrating thing.

Slad Valley Mushrooms director Oscar Clutterbuck-Jones is preparing to leave Moreland's

Simon Barnfield said the cost to his martial arts gym nearby ran into tens of thousands of pounds.

In September, heavy rain led to an overflow pipe discharging inside his premises.

"It has been going on for years, last year we had really bad flooding," he said.

"We had a chartered surveyor survey the building, and found that moss and debris were backing up the drains and blocking them.

"For it to happen again for the same reasons was beyond frustrating," he added.

The Moreland's Trading Estate sits inside a former match factory opened in 1867

The owners of Slad Valley Mushrooms have also been affected by the state of their unit at the city's former match factory.

"We're aiming to have the best air quality possible for our work, and we can't grow certain types of mushroom species because of that," said director Oscar Clutterbuck-Jones.

"A lot of our raw materials get wet, which renders them unusable to us, our stock can get damaged.

"Every part of our business is affected, the stress of worrying about water damage really takes a toll," he added.

Mr Clutterbuck-Jones said they are now leaving to move to new premises.

'Wettest-ever month'

A spokesperson for Helix Property Limited said: “According to the Met Office, Gloucestershire experienced its wettest-ever September, experiencing more than three times its average rainfall for the month.

"Our team at Moreland's Gloucester have worked tirelessly in very difficult conditions to support our customers during this time, but unfortunately there was flooding in some of the buildings.

"We have committed a significant sum over the coming months to repair and improvement works at Moreland's.

“We are also aware that Moreland's is an older building and of the issues this causes, and listen to our tenants’ feedback.

"This is why we had committed a significant sum for improvements even before the recent severe weather, which exacerbated the situation."