‘We are losing money’: Businesses struggling after burst water main closes Brixton roads
Thames Water have announced a week of road closures in Brixton after a water main burst on Saturday morning.
Brixton Hill remains closed between Brixton Water Lane and Elm Park whilst the company works to repair the water main.
 Denz Okcu, 33, manages Café on the Hill in Brixton Hill. He said: “On Saturday we had very low water pressure so I couldn’t make any coffee.
“People would come and order food and coffees but as soon as I told them they would walk out.
“We are losing money and I don’t know how long this will be going on for.”
Mr Okcu said the water pressure returned to normal levels yesterday but this morning it has lowered once again.
He said: “All morning I haven’t made coffee, I thought it was fixed and now I don’t know what to do.
“I just want to know how long it will take and if I need to buy a new coffee machine, if I buy one now and then its fixed I’ll waste my money.
“This is affecting all cafés in the area so I know we are not the only ones struggling.”
Queues have been reported on the A205, Tulse Hill, Norwood Road and Kings Avenue as traffic is being diverted.
Rhys Davies is a front of house barista at Le Dailycorner Café in Upper Tulse Hill.
He said: “We are super quiet, last Monday was our busiest Monday ever but today we have less than half the amount of customers we normally do.
“Our water has been okay but people have told us it’s taking an hour to get just from Acre Lane to here.”
Mr Davies explained that traffic is causing staff to be an hour late to the cafe.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We are sorry to customers across Brixton and Streatham who experienced low water pressure or no water on Saturday due to a burst water main on Brixton Hill.   Â
“Our engineers isolated the burst and full water supply was returned to customers by Saturday afternoon.
“Our teams will be carrying out repairs to our pipework over the next week during which time, part of Brixton Hill will remain closed.  Â
“We apologise for any disruption caused and would like to assure our customers that we are carrying out the repair as quickly and safely as possible.” Â
Pictured top: The road is closed off for a t least a week at Brixton hill (Picture: Brixton Rush Common Labour councillors)
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
Thames Water should be held to account and compensate all the businesses affected. They are always quick to get bonuses when they should be on top of these sort of issues. It’s not as if the technology to help them doesn’t exist. They had free reign all trough lockdown – what were they ‘busy’ doing?? This firefighting nonsense needs to stop. The company as a whole needs to be more proactive.