A RENOWNED restaurant on the banks of the river Severn in Worcester is still feeling the effects of this summer's floods.

Brown's Restaurant suffered about £400,000 damage and it is still drying out.

Work is only just about to begin repairing the prestigious grade II-listed building and bosses say it will not re-open until next February.

Owner Richard Everton said staff waded in water up to their waists at the South Quay-based restaurant when torrential rain fell across the county in July. However, he said he was still in shock about the long-lasting damage a couple of hours rainfall caused to the restaurant, which has won national praise in the past.

"It just beggars belief really," he said. "It just shows the devastation that the floods had on some people.

"Some people felt hard-done -by because they had to leave their car parked on the side of the road but we are still going to be suffering eight months later." Mr Everton said the damage inside the restaurant he has owned for about five years was widespread.

"The walls are so perished lots of bricks need to be replaced," he said. "A couple of cracks have opened up and when it fully dries out it will be even worse.

"The kitchen is a complete write-off and the tiles have also been condemned."

Large dehumidifyers dotted around the ground floor of the restaurant are still filling large containers of water, and Mr Everton said no work can be done until the building has completely dried out.

"It's a major ordeal," said the 42-year-old, who also owns the Crown and Sandys Arms at Ombersley.

Some days you can get totally depressed by it but I'm a great believer of turning a defeat into a victory and that's just what we will do."

However, Mr Everton admitted he does have concerns about more flooding now the winter months are approaching but said he is looking at putting in extra measures to complement the restaurant's Venetian flood defences.

He said: "It's the risk you take if you have a place on the river in Worcester or Worcestershire.

"That flood has been touted as a one in a 100-year event and let's hope that it is, to be honest."