Pub and shop struggle after tree downs phone line

Phone and internet cables were severed in Itteringham when the branch of an oak tree came down last week

A pub and a village shop have suffered a loss of trade after a fallen branch broke telephone wires in Norfolk.

Strong winds on 14 August damaged an oak tree in Itteringham, near Aylsham, Norfolk, blocking the road and cutting telephone and internet services.

Staff at The Walpole Arms have resorted to creating an internet hotspot from a mobile phone using a single bar of 4G signal to process card payments, while the shop cannot operate the Post Office till.

Openreach said it was working to repair the fault, saying with 100m of cable damaged, it was a complicated repair. It apologised for the inconvenience.

Craig Allison said trade at his pub was down by about 50%

Craig Allison, the joint owner of The Walpole Arms, said trade had been down by about 50% since the wire was severed, as customers were unable to call to book tables.

He said the loss of connectivity had seen the pub's ability to take payments and bookings thrown "out of the window".

"[It's causing a] loss of business, loss of revenue, loss of trade," he said.

"We are now relying on people walking past."

A wifi hotspot has been set up by Tess Wright at The Walpole Arms using her mobile phone – but it has weak 4G

Tess Wright, the pub's general manager, said one of the computer-based cash registers was offline, and the other was linked to her mobile phone using a wifi hotspot.

She said: "Our tills are offline... and they are not talking to the kitchen, so we have to hand-write the tickets, which is really labour intensive.

"We've managed to get one card machine working off this hotspot device which I've managed to rig up to my phone, but it's intermittent and is not ideal."

She said customers were understanding but they had sometimes needed to queue to settle their bills.

Rosie Hull, the manager of the community-owned shop, has been helping villagers by offering credit to people unable to pay by cash

The village shop and Post Office, which is community-owned, has been offering credit to local customers if they were unable to pay in cash.

A villager has loaned a satellite-based internet dish to the shop so it can handle card transactions, but it cannot operate the Post Office till.

It means the Post Office cannot dispense cash or accept deposits.

Rosie Hull, who works in the shop, said: "We've been cash-only so we've not been able to do any card payments."

She said the team had done all they could to help people while the line remained down.

"That's what it's all about: having the shop open and remaining that vital service for the village," she said.

In a statement released to the BBC, Openreach said: "We understand how frustrating it is to be without connectivity and our engineers are working hard to repair and replace more than 100 metres of cable, that was damaged by a falling tree.

"To make sure they can work safely, we're having to use temporary traffic lights.

"The repair is already underway and we're hoping to be finished on Tuesday."