News of a sinkhole appearing on a Surrey village’s high street has hit national headlines this week, but it hasn’t stopped one pharmacy from continuing to serve the local community - despite the uncertain danger.
Godstone Pharmacy owner Ifesi Anyamene spoke to C+D today (February 20) to reveal what life’s been like in Godstone since the sinkhole appeared overnight on Monday (February 17).
She said the pharmacy is “incredibly close” to the sinkhole at just 25m away, and she had “not heard much from anybody” about whether they need to evacuate like some of residents whose homes are directly in front of it.
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“It’s scary,” she said. “We haven’t heard much from the council, there’s not been any information passed to us. We’re just going by what we’ve read in the press.”
Anyamene said Tuesday was “the day we felt the impact the most” as a burst water mains left many without water and emergency crews dealing with the sinkhole had restricted access to the high street.
“We didn’t have any running water in the toilet, but we had it in the dispensary so we were able to manage,” she said.
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The pharmacy had bottled water delivered to them because of this, but needed to post on social media it is still “open for business” despite the carnage the sinkhole is causing locally.
“For our workers, most of us don’t live in the area. There were no diversions when we came in on Tuesday so we had to figure out how to get to work.
“Some of the staff had to walk quite some distance to get from where the bus dropped them off to get to work.
“People are anxious”
The pharmacy owner also shared on a LinkedIn post that she “refused to close our doors … we knew that as an essential service, our presence mattered”.
But the impact on footfall has been noticeable as Anyamene said “it has not been busy because there are barricades everywhere and the resident are weary”.
“People are asking us “is it safe to come there?” People are anxious, and we’ve had to deliver in some cases because quite a lot of elderly people are in the area who could not come in.
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“Even the delivery drivers could not find their way, so it affected some of the supplies and medicines we had to give to people.”
And she said her team has been going out of their way to let people know whether neighbouring businesses on the high street are open or not.
“We are answering our phones, and they know we’re open, so they ask for directions for different places.”
Repairs to take “weeks, if not months”
Anyamene said her LPC had reached out to offer support where it can.
Surrey County Council declared the Godstone sinkhole a major incident on Tuesday and has thanked residents affected for “their patience” as they deal with it.
Its assistant director for safer communities Carl Bussey is chairing the local response to the incident and said today “this is now being treated as an ongoing significant incident as work continues to ensure the site is stable and repair work can begin”.
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“However the full-scale repair of the site will likely take several weeks, if not months,” he added.
Tandridge District Council confirmed yesterday 30 properties were evacuated “as a precaution” and it is investigating “historical sandpits in the area” which have been rumoured as an explanation why the road has sunk.
It added that “affected businesses may be able to get a reduction on business rates” too.
Read more: London pharmacy forced to close temporarily as water main bursts
It comes as Storm Éowyn temporarily shut down some Northern Irish pharmacies last month after the Met Office issued a red weather warning that “represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption”.
And a Norfolk pharmacy was forced to ask patients to pick up their medicines from another collection point earlier this month after a tree smashed through its roof during a New Year’s Eve storm.