Derbyshire coffee shop owner hails community spirit during storm Babet clean-up

Cathy Mycock is the co-owner of the Basilia coffee shop and delicatessen on Cromford Road, Langley Mill.

She and her husband Roy opened the cafe nine years ago, which has been thriving due to their friendly service and tasty food, building a loyal base of local customers.

Cathy describes her customers as “brilliant” and that they give the coffee shop a real “community feel”.

This community spirit was best showcased in the aftermath of the storm Babet flooding, in October.

Cathy recalls the day in which the river Erewash burst its banks, flooding homes and businesses along Cromford Road. The cafe owner described the experience as “horrendous.”

She said: “The drains on the road were beginning to fill up and I was becoming aware that the water was getting quite near the top, so we moved stock upstairs that had arrived a couple of days before.

“Then it got to about half past three and we realised it was getting pretty close to coming out of the top of the drains, so we started putting chairs on tables, and moving whatever we could.”

The water reached the top of the drains and within half an hour of it coming through the shop door as a puddle, there was six inches of water.

Roy phoned the electrician who told the staff they had to leave the building, due to the electricity box being quite low down. All the staff went up the stairs and out through the fire escape at the back of the shop. When we got to the bottom of the fire escape the water was up to our waist.”

After a pretty sleepless night, Cathy and her husband returned to the shop the next day. She described the scene that greeted her as “carnage.”

She said: “We opened the shop door and there was still about 4 inches of water inside.

“So we moved the sandbags and I put an appeal out on our Facebook page saying if anybody could bring us some tea or come and help us try and sort out the shop then we’re here.”

The rest of the Basilia staff soon arrived with their families, followed by other members of the local community.

Around 50 people came to the aid of Cathy and the Basilia staff during the clean up. This included ladies from the local Asda bringing flasks of tea and the local fish and chip shop providing chips to keep people going.

In a joint effort, Basilia staff and local volunteers managed to empty the whole shop; lifting every fridge and freezer out, and sweeping away the water.

Once the shop was emptied, the volunteers moved on up the street to help other businesses.

Cathy thanked all the volunteers who helped that day.

She said: “To say what an awful situation it was, it really did make us feel so much better.”