A WINSFORD pub landlady is ‘amazed’ by the support she received after her pub suffered 22 burst water pipes and had to close a week before Christmas. 

Angie Uren, who runs the Red Lion on Wharton Road, praised the ‘understanding’ of parties who lost their Christmas booking due to the pub’s unexpected closure.

Angie and her husband Robin were so keen to honour Christmas bookings that they ended up bussing some parties to their other pub, the Coach and Horses in Bradfield Green, and then taking them home again.

Plumbers and electricians have been working round the clock since Sunday (December 18), and the pub is now set to open today, Friday, though with a large hole in the bar ceiling.

Angie said: “The response from our customers has been amazing. I actually had a little cry on Wednesday morning. I just couldn’t believe how supportive everybody has been.

“People who lost their Christmas bookings have been so understanding.

“Some we picked up and took over the Coach and Horses and then took them home, because we really didn’t want to let anyone down.”

Angie explained what she and her staff have had to deal with since the 22 water pipes burst in the unheated, unused guest rooms on the third floor of the pub.

“It’s been a horrendous week, the kind I never want again. We came in this morning to another leak, but it hasn’t come through to the bar. That’s leak number 22.

“We’ve got dehumidifiers, blowers, and we’ve just been cleaning everything, read to open on Friday.

“But now we’re there. All the electrics are back on for us now, and the bar is back to how it should be. We’ve started cleaning, the tables are going back, and we just want to be open for Christmas for our customers.

"We’re left with a big, big hole in the ceiling in the bar area, but we're going to make a virtue of necessity by putting put fairy lights over it, and we’re going to hang some stars from it so it’s like you’re looking up at the night sky.

“I’ve got another pub as well, and I am only looking after the Red Lion temporarily. If I hadn’t, it would have closed.

"We don’t want any more pubs closing."