Council investigating cause of flash-flood misery as Darwen pub owner says culvert works to blame

The Old Function Room on Watery Lane in Darwen was struck by the flooding, after a freak storm sent gallons of sewer water flowing down the road and into the basement.

Maxine Walsh, who runs the pub, said she had been getting the Function Room ready for a funeral on Monday and was carrying out last minute cleaning and safety checks at the venue when the heavens opened, and within minutes her partner noticed water dripping into the cellar.

The cellar of the Function Room flooded

Speaking on Monday morning, she said: "The water has come in through the drain at the back and flooded the men's toilet and has then come into the bar area.

"Over lockdown we put a new bar in and new carpets. We thought they were going to be ruined but luckily there's a lot of wood flooring down too and so we managed to divert the water before it reached the carpet.

"We went down into the cellar and there was water everywhere - it was like a water cannon, sewer water just firing into the pub, and within minutes it was knee deep.

"We've got a funeral in today, for a local man, and I was worried that the electrics were going to go and the coolers were going to break, which would've been a complete disaster."

Luckily, after a sleepless night and a lot of help from the neighbouring community, including one of her regulars who went to check everything was safe, Ms Walsh said she was able to go ahead with the function and open as planned on Monday.

Water was spurting up through the blocked drains on Watery Lane

However, Ms Walsh feels her business, and people living in the area, have been sold down the river by Blackburn with Darwen Council and the Environment Agency, as recent works to a nearby culvert over the River Darwen were supposed to provide adequate flood protection for the area.

Instead, she says the problems have worsened and no-one seems to want to take responsibility.

She added: "My business has been devastated for 12 months due to Covid and lockdown, and then we lost our car park when the Environment Agency took it over so they could carry out work.

"We've been told by the council to effectively 'suck it up' because when the works were complete it would be plain sailing, but it's not made one bit of difference.

"Before they started messing with it there was never any issues with flooding, but now, any time it rains I am panicking that it will flood."

Watery Lane, Thomson Street and Spring Vale Garden Village, close to the Function Room were flooded, as were roads as far up as Priory Drive

Another resident living in the area said: "Blackburn with Darwen Council need to be held accountable. They can't just go round trying to fix things and then when something goes wrong say it wasn't anything to do with them.

"Luckily the water came in, backed up, and then drained out quite quickly, but the road surface on Watery Lane is now damaged and some of the tarmac has been ripped up."

Regeneration boss at Blackburn with Darwen Council, Cllr Phil Riley said the council is investigating the cause of the flooding and should expect an answer this week.

He said: "At the moment it's too early to say with certainty what has caused this flooding.

"For obvious reasons we need to be clear that it's not related to the work that the Environment Agency have done and that's one of the things we are investigating."