Coalbrookdale cafe floods for fourth time in six months

Footage taken during Sunday's downpour saw friends and neighbours helping Chris Harrison protect his cafe

A cafe owner says he may close for good after being flooded for the fourth time in six months.

Repairs had only just been finished at Dale End Cafe in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, when a drain overflowed during a downpour on Sunday.

Sewage seeped on to the new floor leaving Chris Harrison, who runs it with wife Sharon, "devastated again".

"We can't honestly say now whether it's worth trying to reopen this," Mr Harrison said.

A Met Office weather station in nearby Shawbury recorded 31mm (1.2in) of rain on Sunday, the most in the UK.

Dale End Cafe in Coalbrookdale has been flooded twice by the rising River Severn this year and twice from localised heavy rain.

When he was last flooded in February, Mr Harrison said he sat in a hairdressers across the road from his premises, and "watched our business go under."

Mr Harrison said he does not know if he can reopen

Other nearby businesses were also affected by the rain on Sunday, but Mr Harrison said insurers were refusing to cover him.

New tiles had recently been put on the cafe's walls, along with a fresh ceiling. New equipment had just arrived before the weekend.

"You must understand my frustration. All I want to do is my job and I can't because something is going wrong," Mr Harrison said.

"To have this happen now after 10 weeks of being locked up is soul destroying.

"We want to [carry on operating] but this has got to be sorted."

Telford and Wrekin Council said it was working closely with other organisations to find solutions to the flooding in the Ironbridge Gorge and has made grants available to help affected properties.

Flash floods on Sunday meant local drains could not cope