Traders rejoice at flood defence bridge reopening

Hossey Saghri owner of the The Mughouse pub said he very much welcomed the reopening of the bridge

Traders in Bewdley are celebrating after the town's bridge has reopened two years after flood defence work began in the town.

Bewdley Bridge had been closed to traffic in one direction since August 2023 for an Environment Agency project to build new flood barriers.

And while the defences were intended to boost livelihoods long term, the shorter-term effect of the bridge closure had been a hit on business, traders reported.

Among them was Hossey Saghri, owner of the Mug House pub, who said he welcomed the reopening.

Traders said last month - when the work was due to be completed - that the construction was pushing them to "breaking point".

"It's lovely to have the bridge open on both sides," a relieved Mr Saghri told BBC Hereford and Worcester on Tuesday.

"It's had a huge impact on footfall into Bewdley so it's nice to have people around.

"It's certainly been a challenge in terms of trade, year on year.. we've been struggling.

"We are heavily reliant on decent weather and tourists coming into Bewdley as well as all the locals."

The £6m flood defences were installed after the town was repeatedly hit in recent years by rising water levels in the River Severn.

Mark Garnier, MP for Wyre Forest, agreed the bridge closure had been "an absolute nightmare" but it was about "weighing up one impossible situation against another impossible situation".

He said the project had been a "huge engineering feat", with the foundations of the defences reaching 14m into the ground to hold the weight of the water.

The concrete flood wall was sunk several metres into the ground as part of the project which had been a "huge engineering feat", MP Mark Garnier said

During the work, there had been some "extraordinary discoveries", with engineers finding old gas pipes that powered the old gas lights on Bewdley bridge at the end of the 19th Century.

Garnier said: "We've seen some catastrophic failures of the flood defences in the last few years, or the temporary flood defences, so that was one impossible situation we were trying to get rid of.

"Then we had this [bridge situation] for two years and I hadn't quite appreciated it was a full two years of just having one way traffic and it has... it has been problematic... it's been difficult for the traders.

"But it's nearly at an end. We've got two-way traffic on the bridge, the flood defences I think will be finished at the end of August so it's all going to be over and Bewdley will have been done."