'We live in one of England's most flooded towns - sewage has floated into shops'

With its quaint high street filled with independent businesses, Tenbury Wells encapsulates what an English market town is.

But the scene has been less picturesque this week. Any visitors will have seen rows upon rows of sandbags and boarded-up shop windows. It is because this small town in Worcestershire has a long-standing problem: it has been flooded seven times in four years.

This week, amid hundreds of flood warnings and alerts elsewhere in the country, the people of Tenbury have been on tenterhooks.

It was only November last year when Tenbury was last flooded, with 40 properties affected. And that was the second time in 2024. As Dame Harriett Baldwin, the town's MP, told Sir Keir Starmer at the time: "It’s a town where it’s only a case of when - not if - it will flood again."

While Tenbury, with a population of 5,000, has mercifully escaped damage in the latest round of flooding this month, when Yahoo UK visited in early January there was clear evidence of a town facing a desperate fight against future water damage.

A huge makeshift wall of sandbags occupies one section of pavement near the flood-hit Market Street, while at least six shops had smashed windows and temporary flood defences in the form of sandbags propped up by wooden slats.

'It’ll get to the point where there’s no one left'

Darryl Gunn, who co-owns The Hair Shop in Market Street, said the town is at risk of businesses closing or abandoning the town. A handful of Tenbury businesses now appear empty having been so badly damaged in the last flood - with locals telling us that they may not return.

"The shop is in the worst place," he said. "We have some flood defenders we put up, but it can go over the top of them. You’ve got porous walls, too, which water can just easily flood in.

“We’ve had sewage float into the shop before. Luckily last time it was 'just' this smudgy, horrible mud-like stuff. It wasn’t as bad, but it gets everywhere.

“The water was nearly at the sandbag wall [along Kyre Brook] on Monday morning. I was down there with a few of the other shop owners checking on it. We saw that the brook had started to fall though.

“That sandbag wall is pathetic, water can easily get through that and onto the street."

Back in November, Starmer described the floods in Tenbury as “an awful situation", adding: “We all know how devastating flooding is. The initial damage that it caused, but then the ongoing damage including problems then of insurance etc that then prevail for many, many years. We are committed to tackling this.”

His government, which was elected in July last year, has said it "inherited flood defences in their worst condition on record" and that it has committed £2.4bn over the next two years to repair and build flood defences.

But Gunn, who said he has seen his wife's hair products floating down the street in previous floods, wants action now, saying insurance companies won't cover the parts of town at risk of flooding.

"They [the government] should be doing so much more, it’s unbelievable. What's happening is that people are shutting their businesses in that part of town. It would be easier to move from there, but we don’t want to give in.

"It’ll get to the point where there’s no one left there.

“The idea of a tunnel that’s been suggested to help the water level is a brilliant idea, they've just got to do it now."

'Just horrible'

It's not just business owners who have suffered. One homeowner, who didn't want to be named, said: “When it happens, it hits hard. Because we live near the brook, we get the brunt of it.

“The whole downstairs of our home can be submerged and we have to live with that. We’ve been here 12 years and we’ve got used to it: putting our valuables up high and keeping electronics away from expected water levels.

"But it becomes tiring.

“The water is bad, but the mud it brings with it too is another problem. We’ve had sewage on the street one year, which is just horrible.”

The woman agreed with Gunn, saying the area is at risk of “losing its businesses and homeowners in the coming years” as they seek drier alternatives.

'We can flood proof'

Locals say the town floods in two key areas: around Market Street near the brook and along Teme Street next to the River Teme.

Anne, who works at Pukka Pizzas in Teme Street, said: "You can’t stop it, you put layers of plastic up and sandbags to try and prevent it, but it comes in. The difficulty is because we’re in the food business... it’s not just sweeping water out. Everything has got to be sanitised. It’s all the filth that comes in with the water. Can you imagine?

"You get used to it so you can start preparing and lift things high. Everything is high up now, nothing near the ground level.

"Back in my day we had proper water work departments who would come and dredge the rivers and streams, keep it clean of everything. All the wildlife it displaces down here too, it’s a travesty."

But she remains positive about the town's future: "Tenbury is a really close community, you can walk down the street and people will talk to you.

“It’s a lovely area, I don’t think people are going to necessarily move away. We’ve always prided ourselves on our good amenities, I don’t think anyone will leave permanently.”

And Louise Preston, owner of pottery shop Pitter Potter, also in Teme Street, said: "I've lived in Tenbury all my life so I knew this would be a factor.

"We thought about this when setting up the studio, making sure all fittings and plug sockets were above flood level and having tiled floors, so [when the flooding happened in November] we were able to turn round and reopen in four days.

"In an ideal world it wouldn't happen but we have to accept: we are where we are. When the Normans built Tenbury they built it on a flood plain. The fact we can flood proof it within half an hour's notice puts us in a positive position."

'Dredge the damn thing'

Another local drinking at a pub said: "It comes in quick most times. You can tell when it's going to happen, you see the water rising.

"Only way to solve it is to dredge the damn thing."

The previous government issued up to £5m of funding for Tenbury for two flood schemes to protect almost 3,000 homes.

But calling for more action from the government and other authorities, he added: "We don't get enough support: we could be underwater and they still wouldn't care."

Additional reporting by Adam Dutton.

Read more

• Could Tenbury Wells be the first UK town centre abandoned over climate change? (The Guardian)

• More than six million homes and businesses ‘in flood-risk areas’ in England (PA Media)

• Elderly couple's 'nightmare' forever home has flooded 20 times in three years (Yahoo News UK)

Watch: Clean-up operations begin in the UK after Storm Bert flooding

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