Shops halt trade as Storm Bert leaves heavy floods

Flood-hit convenience stores are closing doors early, putting out defences and seeing less trade as a result of Storm Bert.

More than 150 flood warnings have been put into force from the storm, which reached the UK on 23 November. One warning includes a ‘danger to life’ alert in Northamptonshire. Retailers are reporting that customers are struggling to access shops, with trade lessened due to people being house-bound too.

Andy Bowman, One Stop in Monnow Street, Monmouth, said he shut up shop early on 24 November.

He said: “The River Wye has flooded out onto the road. We shut at 4pm yesterday, it’s not an easy decision to make but lots of other shops around us were shutting early. But locals on the road couldn’t access basic essentials. Hopefully we don’t get any more flooding in the next few days.”

Meanwhile, a retailer at Broadway Convenience Store in Pontypridd, South Wales, added that their sales had been “impacted”, and another at Ide Community Shop & Post Office, Exeter, said while they hadn’t seen flooding, trade had been impacted “with everyone going out less because the weather is bad”.

Severe weather costs UK retailers thousands

Mitesh Patel, of Premier Billing Service Station, The Causeway, Little Billing, is able to access his store in his van, but access is shut to traffic “from both sides”, resulting in “basically no trade at all”.

“Last time it was this bad I was really young,” he added. “We didn’t have any defences out, because we don’t usually get [flooding] this high It’s literally only our pumps that are visible – the rest is underwater. We’ve told all our staff to stay away, there’s no point in coming here. I don’t think many can even get here, it’s pretty deep. Hopefully we only lose one day of trade. It hurts, but there’s not much we can do about it.”

Independent retailers should ensure they’re covered for flooding, advised Daniel Hodges, managing director at Monopoly Insurance.

“Nine times out of 10 the insurer will cover [flooding], but unfortunately a lot of small retailers are driven by the bottom line rather than what they’re getting, so you sacrifice cover over price. Some want the cheapest price which may be an insurer that excludes flood cover. Some people also get caught out because they don’t read the wording [of their insurance contract] correctly as to whether they’re covered for flooding or not.”

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