Charlie at Broccoli in Hornsey Road

ON the back of the pandemic and a staffing crisis, independent businesses have spent the week counting the cost of Monday’s flooding.

“I’m trying to think as if Broccoli never existed – it helps me mentally,” said the Hornsey Road restaurant’s owner Charlie who is having to “start again from scratch”.

The water followed the gradient of the downward-sloping road, pooling at its greatest depth around the shops near Harvist Estate.

Charlie, who did not want his surname to be published, was inside his restaurant when the flooding began.

“I was stranded inside, just wondering how much more it was going to rise,” he said.

Grey marks left on the restaurant walls show the water rose to around hip height. Broccoli is now being gutted.

“Everything in this shop that you can see right now is getting stripped out – and then there’s going to be a drying process, a dehumidi­fying process, we’re going to be left with four walls,” he said. “It’s completely finished in the sense we’re starting from scratch.”

Charlie praised Thames Water’s response after the initial event but questioned why the company had been so slow to turn off the water.

“As a company, it took them almost four hours to turn off the water – the water was rising for four hours, that’s a long time,” he said.

The flood is the latest setback for Broccoli, which opened in 2020.

“We opened two months before the pandemic started, we survived the pandemic – and now this,” Charlie said.

He now fears his business will not reopen for months.

“It’s the biggest worry for hospitality at the moment if you lose your team,” he said.

Thames Water has pledged to cover the losses sustained by affected businesses.

Mains flooding in Jackson Road

“You can’t call it compensation – they’re going to cover your losses but you’re not going to get compensation on top of it for your disruption, for your mental [health], for not being able to see your kids for three days now,” Charlie said.

Meanwhile, across the road at Ethiopian restaurant Wolkite, owner Mekdes Siware said: “We don’t want to lose our customers. Because the more you’re left closed, the more you lose customers, and when you open it will be like a new business.”

Like Broccoli, Wolkite was overwhelmed by the flood.

“It was everywhere, very high. It was flooded inside as well, from [the front] to the back,” said Ms Siware.

Before reopening, Ms Siware said the business will need to be sanitised and repainted and all its electrical appliances replaced.

“It’s really hopeless because we thought we were going to go back to normal after the pandemic,” she said. “Now this has happened and my morale has dropped.”

Staff at the nearby Harvist Supermarket said that the risk of contamination meant they had to throw away all of the stock on the floor and bottom shelves.

Broken fridge-freezers meant chilled and frozen stock was also lost.

William Salinas, owner of El Comandante pub in Annette Road, said his business narrowly escaped damage.

“It’s been tense – you don’t know what’s happening. I thought my pub was going to be ruined completely and all the years I’ve spent here will be gone, but I was lucky,” he said.

Last night it was revealed council leader Kaya Comer-Schwartz has sent a letter to  Thames Water demanding answers.

“The leak in Tollington Road has been hugely damaging for residents and businesses. The pictures and videos tell their own story about the effects on local people; a number of households have been left with lasting damage due to the flooding,” the letter said.

“As I’m sure you’ll be aware, this is not the first time this summer our borough has seen a burst water main.

“Only two weeks ago, a water main burst on Offord Road caused further damage to the area.

“The fact that these leaks are happening during a sustained period without rain, with talk of droughts and hosepipe bans across London, is even more concerning.

“Islington residents, if put under a hosepipe ban, will rightly wonder how much of an impact these leaks have had on the water supply in the borough.

“At a time when we are likely to see more extreme weather events leading to dry conditions, it is more important than ever that water isn’t wasted.”