Landlady Yolanda of The White Lion Inn in Rutland appeared on Jeremy Vine's show this morning (7 January) speaking about the damage severe flooding has done to the pub. 

Between 20 and 30 people from Whissendine came out to help the pub with cleaning mud from the floors. The landlady lives on site and her home has been massively affected as well. 

The pub flooded four times in 2024, with insurance refusing to pay anymore towards the pub or home repairs. 

During the interview, when asked by Jeremy Vine who she thought was to blame for the flooding, Yolanda answered: "Obviously climate change has got a part to play in it, but I think Rutland County Council. This area has always flooded but not like it floods now so something has definitely changed. 

"What's very frustrating is that Rutland County Council seem to be like 'you're used to flooding anyway so what's the big deal? Clean up, reopen, get on with it.' That's the feeling you're getting from them. 

"Rutland County Council, after the October storms, realised there was a problem in Rutland with flooding and they put together an S19 group of people to deal with the flooding and to this day nothing really has been done that we can see has made a difference to us." 

The pub has massively been affected by recent flooding, having had 4 floods last year (Photo: The Jeremy Vine Show Channel 5)

Yolanda hopes to open the pub in the next week, but as the flood water includes sewage, getting rid of the smell and properly sanitising everything will take time. 

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She is grateful for the support of the community coming to help during this difficult time but worries that there might be more flooding to come.