Chalfont St Peter businessman opens up on recent problems

Parts of the civil parish and its surrounding areas have been badly impacted by excessive water streaming down public roads and car parks, which has caused sections of the village to be cordoned off from pedestrians and motorists.

This is so that maintenance workers can flush out the water which has come from the River Misbourne overflowing, as well as sewers.

The Yaprak Turkish Restaurant in Chalfont St Peter has been badly impacted by the flooding (Image: NQ)

Engin Baskan, who owns the Yaprak Turkish Restaurant, told the Free Press that after the floods hit at the start of the month, he lost over 200 bookings across two days.

In all, he has not been able to trade for five days this calendar year, after storms hit the country at the beginning of 2024.

He told the Free Press: “It’s very challenging at the moment and something has to be done soon.

The premises has a cocktail bar (Image: NQ)

“I took over in March/April last year, and this is by far the most difficult period of my career.

“Everyone knows that England is a rainy country, but even when there is a tiny bit of rain, you can see the water rise in lakes and rivers.

“It’s scary, and we’re heading into rainy season too.

Sandbags have been put down in front of the building due to the flooding (Image: NQ)

“Our problems started on Wednesday [February 7], as we had to clean the restaurant all day, along with Thursday [February 8].

"This was after lots of water came inside.

“We had to cancel lunch orders and we kept on cleaning so that we could be open for our evening service.

“But the rain hit again and the flooding was getting worse.

The restaurant has been badly impacted by the floodings (Image: NQ)

“We had to cancel all the bookings that night, along with the whole of Friday, and if you look at that, along with takeaways plus booking costs, we must have lost around £20,000 in those two days.

“We had 60 bookings for Thursday and 160 for Friday all gone.”

The businessman also admitted he is worried about his restaurant’s reputation following the recent problems.

He believes that calling customers to cancel bookings could prevent them from returning in the future.

This, coupled with the main road and car park being closed next to the restaurant, also gives the impression that Yaprak is shut, when it’s not.

Just some of the food they offer (Image: NQ)

He continued: “We reopened on Saturday [February 10] afternoon but we have lost many customers.

“After we had to cancel all of our bookings on Thursday and Friday, we’re worried about what people will think of us.

“People had booked two or three months in advance.

“These could be for birthdays, anniversaries or them just wanting to come here.

“When it rains, people might think ‘should we go there or should we cancel?’ because of the problems it can cause.

Engin Baskan (second right) owns the restaurant. Here he is posing with other local business people from Chalfont St Peter who have also been impacted (Image: NQ)

“They ring us to ask if we’re open and when we say we are, they explain why they can’t come because of the water issues.

“The flooding has caused car parks to close and people might not want to walk over in the rain.

“Other parts of the village are also flooded, so there can be times when no one comes in.

“When the road is closed, people think we’re shut when we’re not and this can cause us to lose customers.

“I’m very stressed as I’ve got to think about my staff too.”

There are talks to launch a fundraising campaign for the restaurant, but this has yet to be confirmed.