THE long awaited re-opening of The Rising Sun pub in Devizes was cut short when water flooded through the pub's ceiling.

The pub, formerly Munnelly's, had its opening night on Saturday and was packed with customers.

At 1am on Sunday, staff noticed water leaking into the kitchen and through the ceiling in the pub and immediately asked customers to leave.

It was found that the water was leaking from a header tank in the roof.

Brian Foster, the landlord, said: "It was a nightmare. The flooding happened just before the end of the evening and we were winding down. There were about 100 customers in the pub when we noticed the water coming through the ceiling. We explained the situation to them and shepherded them out. There was no trouble from them.

"It was very disappointing, particularly as we worked hard to get it ready in time to re-open at the Easter weekend.

"We were full up with 200 customers during the evening and they all thought the pub was brilliant."

Repair work has been going on this week and the pub is due to re-open tomorrow at 8pm.

The damage caused by the flooding is relatively minor and Mr Foster said the contractors involved would be covering the cost of the repairs.

Mr Foster said: "The company that did the work have been back doing the repairs.

"Repairs have been done to the tank, the plumbing and the electrics. The ceiling in the pub bowed a little due to the flooding and that is being repaired. The damage itself is fairly minor but it's the inconvenience of it but we will be up and running again tomorrow."

Mr Foster, who also owns Devizes Snooker Club, has spent £30,000 on redecorating The Rising Sun while the pub's owners, Punch Taverns, have invested £130,000.

The pub closed suddenly last July when the then tenant Bill Montgomery resigned as the licensee.

Mr Foster changed the name of the pub back to The Rising Sun, the pub's original name.