New city centre home for flooded Lancaster clothes shop

A city centre clothes shop which was forced to close after the Storm Desmond floods hit is to reopen in new premises this weekend.
Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.
Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.

Dominic Waterhouse has moved his specialist clothes shop from its home of more than 15 years in Rosemary Lane to a new location in Brock Street after the December floods caused severe damage to the old property.

And he is now up and running following a shop refit, with the store due to open this Saturday, April 9, at 9.30am.

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The floods badly hit several shops and business around the Rosemary Lane area where Waterhouse was previously based, with the shop’s direct neighbour Lamberts binocular specialists still waiting to be refurbished.

Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.
Dominic Waterhouse in the new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.

Dominic himself lost around £25,000 worth of stock to water damage.

Speaking about the night of December 5, Dominic said: “It was a weird night. Andrew [Ireland, from Lamberts] had a leak coming from the ceiling so at first we weren’t thinking about the floor flooding.”

Dominic closed the shop at 5.30pm but returned later that evening to find water coming in the doorway.

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“It was up to about 2ft,” he said. “I had to move stock above the water, but there wasn’t much else I could do.

The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.
The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.

“I went back the next morning and as soon as I opened the door I knew it was a big insurance job.”

Dominic later returned to put metal grills across the door after hearing rumours of looters in town.

“I hardly slept a wink that night,” he said.

Despite having another year on his lease at the Rosemary Lane shop, Dominic decided to cut his losses and find new premises.

The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.
The new Waterhouse shop in Brock Street, Lancaster.
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“You just don’t know if it will happen again and I didn’t want to go through that again,” he said. “We lost half of our stock – about £25,000 worth.

“We had moved as much as we could but a lot of our shelves were full with Christmas stock.

“I needed a bigger shop anyway so when the opportunity came up it felt like the time was right. It’s totally different and it’s come at the right time really.”

Waterhouse marks its new beginning with a half price sale on all winter stock.

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