LANDLORD Clive Holman was philosophical about the floods which swamped the Swan Hotel in Bradford on Avon.

Things started to get really bad for the town centre premises around 11am on Monday, October 31.

"I had a puddle in the car park at the beginning of the day and by the end I had no car park," he said.

"There was three or four feet of water in the cellar which means I can't sell any of the beer."

But he could still sell other drinks and Monday night began to have something of a party atmosphere.

Mr Holman said the pub was full of people who were making the best of the situation.

"We're going to have a good night," he said. "There's not much we can do but sit and watch it."

For funeral directors CS Bowyer in the Bullpit it was a familiar story.

On Monday afternoon undertaker John O'Neill said: "The flooding came into the Bullpit at around 6am and it's still rising. "We used to be all right when we had a pump and barricade but the council made us take it away."

The firm had moved its vehicles after an offer of help from the nearby Catholic church. "A local doctor rang offering to help as well," Mr O'Neill said.

The rest of the premises were empty when the floods began.

Wiltshire County Council contractors Ringway Parkman, which records the weather at its depots in Trowbridge and Melksham, said the rainfall over the weekend had broken all records.

Between Sunday night and the end of Monday more than 50mm fell in both towns.

The rain gauge figures shows 44.8mm fell on Sunday in Trowbridge and 45.6mm in the same period in Melksham.

Records show the 24-hour period including part of Monday was the wettest for 50 years, while this October was the third wettest in 50 years.