A pub landlord is at his wits end after a water pipe leak caused him to lose up to £20,000, he claimed. James Miller, who owns the Trewern Arms in Pembrokeshire with his wife Angie, said his village pub had been without water at least five times in just seven months.
Each time there's a leak, they either have to close the pub and guest rooms because there's no water supply or customers don't arrive because Welsh Water have closed the road to fix the pipe. The frustrating thing for the Millers is that it happens over and over again. Even more, the previous owners of the pub have contacted Mr Miller and said they experienced the same issues too.
The water pipe supplying the village of Nevern and the pub leaks almost once a month and each time, engineers dig up the road to fix it. Mr Miller said he's asked Welsh Water to do something more permanent but said he'd been told the pipe isn't on their planned works.
Mr Miller is exasperated by the difficulties in running a business when he is repeatedly thwarted by something entirely out of his control. The hospitality industry is already tough enough thanks to the Covid pandemic and rising costs. He estimates the disruption has cost him between £10,000 and £20,000. It's money that Welsh Water is refusing to compensate.
Mr Miller says it's "negligence" on the part of Welsh Water. "The losses have been significant," he said. "We are just a small business, it's just me and my wife running it. These kind of amounts increase the risk to our business. It happens again and again."
The couple, originally from London, took the pub over five years ago as part of a change of career and lifestyle. But over that period, they've been forced to close the kitchen to ensure the safety of staff and guests and customers have been served on mismatched crockery and odd glasses because their team was unable to wash up.
"The problem is the frequency of the leaks and it seems to be getting more frequent," Mr Miller continued. They get "no warning" when the road is closed for repairs: "Suddenly it gets very quiet and we go outside and look up the road and see they've closed it," he added.
"We have to keep making excuses because we can't provide them [customers] food," said Mr Miller. "But also the fact that people can't get here because the roads are closed and they go somewhere else.
"Instead of saving money by not replacing the pipe and passing costs on to us, I'd like to see them replace the pipe and do the right thing. So that we can stop taking the brunt of the impact."
He added: "We've done everything we can to mitigate the failings of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, including buying supplies of bottled water, investing in a 1,000 litre accumulator and pump to store fresh water on site and upgrading our hot and cold water system.
"We'd love to report that Dwr Cymru Welsh Water have dealt with the situation with professional understanding and compassion, but they simply haven't. They've refused even to waive charges for the hot and cold water we have to dump and use to flush our systems of the silt introduced after every episode.
"We've had to replace numerous items of our premium-quality towels and bed linen which we provide for our guests which were permanently stained when mud entered our laundry equipment. We've lost days of trading during unannounced closure of the roads serving our business during emergency repairs. We've lost water and expensive pumps damaged by the silt.
"We've had to issue guests and customers with complimentary bottles of spring water to use to wash their hands and to drink because Dwr Cymru Welsh Water refuse, on request, to send a water tanker or bottled water to cover us. And we're worried about our reputation despite the apparent infinite patience of our customers and guests, to whom we are eternally grateful."
He said to be told by Welsh Water that the cost of replacing the pipe couldn't be justified was "really annoying". Welsh Water said it was "aware of the bursts which have occurred in the area" and said it was sorry for any disruption caused.
A spokesman said: "When we have repeat bursts such as this, we always consider what the best course of action is to resolve the situation and can confirm that we are in the process of planning to replace the section of pipe affected. We will be liaising with the customers in due course to provide them with further information on a timeline for the planned work to be completed."
Mr Miller is glad there is light at the end of the tunnel, although it could be months before they get round to the work. He is still working out how to recoup some of his costs and he knows that the problem will likely continue in the interim.
He believes he's not the only one to suffer: "Our little problem is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "We're just one small example but quite a tangible one. It makes us feel very small whilst it makes them feel very big. Welsh Water are a very big organisation and there's no means really to force them to take account of somebody as small as us."
