South East water outages: Kent pub loses about £30,000 due to water issues

The Kings Head in Staplehurst faced water problems during the busiest time of the year

A pub lost about £30,000 as a result of water outages over the Christmas period, its landlady has claimed.

The Kings Head in Staplehurst was forced to cancel meal bookings for about 200 customers.

Thousands of homes and businesses across the South East were hit by recent water outages.

South East Water said almost all customers had supply restored by Christmas Day and those affected could apply for compensation.

The Kings Head lost its water supply on 19 December and it only returned on Boxing Day.

The pub had to cancel Christmas Day dinner, forcing customers to make other plans at the last minute.

Landlady Kath Hughes spoke of her disappointment for the local community

Landlady Kath Hughes described the situation as "horrific".

She said it had made her question the future.

"It does make me think, is it something I want to continue with? Is it something we as a team, which we work very hard to do, want to continue?"

She also said not having the pub open the week before Christmas had been "really upsetting" for the local community.

Douglas Whitfield, South East Water's Incident Director, said he "understands" the loss of water supplies has on local businesses and apologised for the disruption.

The firm said the Kings Head could apply for potential compensation which is dealt with on a case-by-case basis through specialist, third-party loss adjustors.

South East Water encouraged business owners to contact them directly to discuss the process in more detail.

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