Bosses behind one of Dundee’s newest hospitality venues say they have no idea when it will return after it was “destroyed” by the recent storm.
Nola Dundee on Union Street is trying to pick-up the pieces after the establishment was flooded during Tuesday night’s torrential rain.
The City of Discovery was bombarded with a month’s worth of rain in a matter of hours as staff frantically tried in vain to protect the business.
Macmerry 300, which runs a number of establishments in the area including Bird and Bear and Abandon Ship on Whitehall Crescent, are now assessing the long-term impact.
AJ McMenemy, operations director at Macmerry 300, confirmed Nola, Bird and Bear and Abandon Ship are now temporarily closed due to flooding.
‘It literally blew the storm covers off’
He added: “We are hopeful that Bird and Bear and Abandon Ship will open soon but Nola was ravaged by the flooding given its location in the basement.
“Nola literally opened a week before the pandemic started, given it’s a late night cocktail venue it has hardly been open over the course of the last 18 months.
“When the rain hit on Tuesday night it was solid for about 45 minutes. It literally blew the storm covers off the drains.
“I had staff phoning me frantically from all the venues given the severity of the weather.
“We also have Franks on the Nethergate, the water was trying to come in the door but we managed to barricade the front door.
“The Bird and Bear was in around 2ft of water in the basement but thankfully the damage in both the premises in Whitehall Crescent is minor.”
Huge expense to reopen Union Street venue
AJ said they couldn’t put a timescale on when Nola would be returning as they estimate there could be £30,000 worth of work to get the venue up and running.
He added: “Fire crews were pumping for over five hours trying to get the water out.
“Scottish Water have now been out to ascertain the extent of the damage. We really don’t have any idea when we will open again.
“It was earmarked to reopen on August 9 given that’s when the Covid-19 restrictions were set to change.
“We were getting ourselves in a position to reopen then but I just can’t see that being feasible now.
“There is a big clean-up operation at the moment.
“The materials and installing of the floor in Nola was £10,000 alone and with all the rest of stock we reckon it could be around £30,000 ballpark to get it going again.”