A much-loved West Bay café devastated by flooding is hoping to reopen this weekend.

The Watch House Café on East Beach was 'underwater’ following the adverse weather conditions brought along by storm Ciarán.

A spokesperson for The Watch House Cafe said: “There’s a fair bit to do but have an amazing team of volunteers who have been here since first thing this morning cleaning up.

“As well as the flood damage inside, there is also a significant amount of sand and debris outside which needs to be shifted back to where it was. G&R General Builders have brought there machinery down to assist with this, which has been a godsend.

“We have had fantastic support from local businesses, customers and the community as a whole.

“If we all pull together then we’re hoping to be open over the weekend, which would be an amazing achievement.”

Owners feared that  due to damage caused, the café would have to shut for ‘at least a week’ whilst repair works are underway, however as long as everything goes to plan, they hope to re-open tomorrow (Saturday. November 4).

A staff member at the Watch House previously said: “All of the staff are okay, but the Watch House is currently underwater.

“We could have to close for at least a week; we have only just had a refurbishment.

"It’s a puddle inside and the deck is a swimming pool. We were left to fend for ourselves, it’s just not safe – we were told to stay away.”

They described seeing a huge wave crash down over The Watch House from the West Bay webcam which livestreams a view of West Bay and Bridport Harbour.

Elsewhere in West Bay, the Bridport Arms car park and the Esplanade also closed and will remain so until later this afternoon (although this could change).

Access is set to be restricted until Friday.

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