Furniture store fights back after flood blow (From Bicester Advertiser)

Witney furniture store fights back after flood blow

1:20pm Wednesday 20th March 2013 in News By Tom Jennings

A WITNEY furniture store has reopened three months after being forced to close by flooding.

The Witney Warehouse, on the West End Industrial Estate, had been shut since last November.

Six inches of rain water flowed into the building, damaging the floor, on Monday, November 26.

Stock worth more than £10,000 was ruined. While it was covered by insurance, it took a long time before it was paid out.

Owner Gary Soame, 49, from Standlake, runs the business with his partner Justine Davidson.

Mr Standlake said: “We were at the bank and a member of staff told us the water was coming up.

“The water came across our car park and into the store in a period of an hour or so.

“The whole floor was wrecked, because it was laminate flooring.

“We had to rush to save as much furniture as we could.

“We fought to keep our staff on and paid them, even though we weren’t open.”

The floor was taken up and a dehumidifier was used to get the damp out of the building.

Once the process was finished the store was given a complete facelift and a pump system has been installed to drain water from the car park.

A relaunch event was held on March 7, attended by more than 200 people.

Mr Soame added: “The best thing is that we have been able to completely re-do the place.

“We weren’t expecting so many people to come to the launch event. It was humbling.”

The Environment Agency is considering installing new flood defences around the industrial estate.