The owners and staff of The George pub in Fordingbridge are on “flood watch” as the waters of the River Avon remain high due to recent rain and flooding.

The pub’s picturesque location beside the River Avon puts it at great risk of flooding during heavy rain events.

During the ten years it has been operated by current owners James and Caroline Roylance, the pub has flooded twice during January- once in 2014 and again in 2023.

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The George was already scheduled to be closed on Tuesday, January 2 and Wednesday, January 3 after being open for the New Year’s Day bank holiday, with regular hours resuming on Thursday, January 4.

On the evening of Tuesday, January 2, an update was posted on the pub’s Facebook page about the river water and groundwater alerts issued by the Met Office.

On the morning of Wednesday, January 3, Caroline posted a video shared to TikTok and Facebook showing the water levels of the river alongside the pub.

She said: “The river is off in the recreation ground. It hasn’t really gone up much overnight. There’s still rain to come down from upriver that fell yesterday and it is just coming up to the patio but it’s not over and there’s no more heavy rain for the next couple of days, so hopefully that will give it a chance to go down.

"But it’s kind of- this is the time of year where if it’s going to come in, it’s going to come in. We flooded in January 2014 and we flooded in January 2023; so yeah, fingers crossed for some dry weather.”