THE end of a nightmare two-years is in sight for a Cradley pub, as it prepares to finally reopen after 2007’s devastating floods.

The Red Lion at Stiffords Bridge was struck hard by the extreme weather of July two years ago.

Landlady Sally Cook remembers the moment they realised water was getting into the building.

She said: “It started at about 1pm on Friday, July 20. The water burst the bank and started creeping across the car park.

“We evacuated all the customers and said they wouldn’t be having dessert today.”

“By 3pm the water was already at waist height and rising all the time.

“We knew the place had flooded a long time before and we spent a long time rushing around and moving equipment to where we thought it would be safe.

“By the time we did that we were waiting around downstairs and it was clear the water was still rising so we had to go upstairs.”

Sally, who lives at the property with her partner Clive Dudley, her parents and her brother, realised they would have to escape the office upstairs as the flood water reached five-feet.

She said: “We were all pretty calm until it got to one step below our office and that was a bit nerve-wracking.”

The flood water eventually subsided and the couple were left with the task of re-building their lives and the popular village pub.

They had to get used to no electricity and living upstairs. Sally’s parents moved back to stay with friends in Kent and the clean-up continued. With just two weeks before the doors are thrown open to the public, Sally described herself as “relieved” that the ordeal was finally over. She said: “We see people all the time and they always pop in and ask us when it’s going to be re-opened.”

The pub is now set to re-open to the public on Tuesday, August 18, and Sally hopes that the regulars will return to make it a real celebration.