Historic Kinver pub closed after water leak

An historic canalside pub will be closed over Christmas after water started to leak into the building. Villagers in Kinver were stunned when barriers went down at The Vine just over a week ago.

And officials from Enterprise Inns today confirmed the site would remain closed over the festive season as the problem was dealt with. They said no bookings had been made for over Christmas but apologised customers would not be able to pop in for a festive drink.

Some villagers were concerned the closure was permanent leading to the loss of one of the village's best-known pubs.

But bosses from the brewery, which owns the freehold on the site, today said the closure was temporary and they were planning to re-open the site at the earliest opportunity.

They said water had entered the pub and assessments were now being carried out on how to deal with the problem. But they admitted a date had not been set for when the building would be re-opening to customers and the scale of the work needed was not yet known.

Spokesman Vicky Averis said: "We are working to get the pub reopened again at the earliest opportunity once some outstanding issues have been resolved. We are not planning to sell or let the pub. It was noticed water had entered the building and this has had to be dealt with.

"Workers are at the site and are carrying out assessments at the moment. Presently we have no other details. The pub is certainly not closing permanently. We want it trading again as soon as is possible."

The pub has previously been at the centre of closure fears before. It closed temporarily last year before new tenants were found to take on the licence.

Resident Bob Clarke said: "People were concerned after seeing the barriers down at the pub and simply wanted to know what was going on."