A HAMPSHIRE pub has reopened after a 'nightmare' flood.

Harry Barnes of The Swan in Lyndhurst was forced to close the pub after torrential rain came flooding into the Bournemouth Road venue.

Staff were bailing out water from an overflowing drain from eight am on Friday after drains were thought to have collapsed.

It was reopened last night.

Mr Barnes woke on Friday to find water entering the pub from the side entrance - which made its way into the bar and downstairs into the cellar.

Attempts to block off water flow at pipes running underneath Swan Green were unsuccessful.

Mr Barnes said: “We’ve had a major flood. It’s just me, my wife, our chef and our sub chef trying to clear it out. More help would be lovely.

“If we can stop the rain coming in then the next step is to get it cleared out.

“”The water comes onto our property off Emery down, through a tunnel and the drains have burst I think.”

He added: “It’s a nightmare. We can’t cope with this. It’s a real grind. Only three weeks ago we had a gas leak here. It was in the road but it shut us down for the day.

“We just had to take it on the chin.”

Totton resident and pub regular Melissa Smith, 32, had come to help direct the water away from the pub - on her one day off from working at Hair Off The Dog grooming salon in Warsash.

She said: “I thought I might as well come and try to help out if I can. You always want to do something to help the community. Everyone talks about it but when it actually comes down to it not many people really do. Plus it’s exercise.”

The pub was forced to close for six months in 2006 when a devastating fire destroyed 75 per cent of the building.

As reported most of the White Swan - as it was then called - was reduced to a charred ruin after flames ripped through the roof of the 18th century pub.

Manager Sue Maloney and her son James, who lived on the premises, escaped unhurt and raised the alarm.

However, the 90 firefighters who tackled the blaze were unable to prevent the flames destroying the back of the building, including the kitchens.

At the time then landlord Paul Knight said: “We’re likely to be closed for between three and six months because we’ve lost the kitchens, the toilets and the restaurant area. The pub looks all right from the front but all the back has gone.”