Wollombi Tavern owner Chris Books has had five years of COVID, fires and floods

The rather nasty trifecta of bushfires, COVID and floods, no less.

It's a lot of bad luck to squeeze into a couple of years, especially when you consider that both COVID lockdowns and floods didn't hit once, but twice. And that he can't get flood insurance because the Tavern sits on a flood plain.

So to say it has been a challenging period for the owner of the historic Wollombi Tavern, would seem glib.

"It's coming on five years since I bought the place, so it has all been pretty crazy really," Books, 60, says.

"I was supposed to retire years ago would you believe, and only bought it as hobby. So much for that plan.

"For one reason or another we've been closed for the last three Christmas-New Year periods, which is our busiest time."

He breaks into a chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. Considering what he's been through, he somehow manages to laugh a lot.

"I have a philosophy: don't sweat what you have no control over."

Books' very dark storm cloud does come with a silver lining however: in the lead up to the recent flood he was in the process of selling the Tavern and despite the fact it finished deep under water - "about two metres above floor level" - the buyers are still keen to proceed with the sale.

"They're a consortium and they want to keep it rustic," Books says. "They are keen to refurbish so the flood damage means they can come in with a clean slate.

"We're hoping that in six to eight weeks all the work will be done and the place will be fully operational again under the new ownership."

As we chat we are sitting out front of the Tavern on stools on the narrow footpath. The building has safety tape around it to keep the public out, with chairs and tables piled high against the front wall. Tradies are hard at it inside with power saws and nail guns doing renovation work, and the big open fire is blazing to combat the winter chill.

"The water actually reached up to here," Books says, rising from his seat to point to a spot over his head on one of the timber posts. "About to the top of the doors and the windows.

"When the water started rising we put everything we could on the bar. We thought it would be safe there because the last big flood - the 2007 flood - came up to just below bar level.

"But obviously that wasn't enough.

"The water kept rising and we were watching it closely before we all went home for the night. But then it just continued to pour and pour all through the night.

"One of my staff lives at Murrays Run, up towards Mangrove Mountain, and with flooding whatever happens up there is reflected here about 12 hours later. Anyway he rang me and said that this one was really big, so I guess I wasn't really surprised."

It turned out to be the second biggest flood since 1949, topping out between midnight and 1am at a height of 14.1 metres.

With Wollombi Brook just 50 metres or so behind the Tavern - taking water from a handful of tributaries along the way - Books' pub didn't stand a chance.

"This is the south arm of Wollombi Brook and just up further it joins the north arm and flows out to the Hunter River. That's a potential flood point right there, but if the Hunter is flooding, the water just can't escape and we really cop it."

In fact his first look at his flooded Tavern was on social media after a few of the locals had posted pictures.

"By that stage I was at home about a kilometre away and was marooned. Floodwater meant I couldn't get to the Tavern and I couldn't get to Cessnock the other way."

And what does it all mean in practical terms?

"A lot of cleaning in the bar area and the electrics were completely knocked out.

"It's now three weeks later and we've only just got electricity restored.

"The kitchen was gutted and we lost all the appliances. Once they go under flood water you have to throw them all away.

"Because we had no power we had no cool room, so we couldn't sell any beers, even bottled stuff.

"So, no kitchen, no bar, no anything.

"I guess the one positive has been the help from locals. The community spirit here is incredible."

The worst job in all this?

"One of the small fridges had tipped over in the water. I reckon it was taking these rotting, gooey lamb shanks out of the water. Honestly mate, it was disgusting."

Books estimates the flood has cost him about $180,000, although he hopes to get about $50,000 of that back through Resilience NSW and Service NSW grants.

On top of that four members of his staff have moved on to other jobs due to the closure.

"They need to feed their families and it has been weeks since we were open so I understand," he said. "But it's not easy to get staff around here."

And how do bushfires, COVID and floods compare?

"The bushfires got within about a kilometre of us," he said. "There are three roads into Wollombi and we sit on the junction of the three. At one stage all three were blocked off about 40 metres from our door. You could sit here and see the barriers on all three roads.

"No getting in, no getting out except for Emergency Services. But we were lucky, the fire wasn't jumping across six lanes of road like they were further north. If they did that we'd have been gone.

"The big problem was its size. It was just such a huge fire.

"But at least we were able to stay open.

"And with COVID there was the lockdown of course, so no business at all. And then after that they wanted us to police the social distancing and all that, without the power of police.

"So we seemed to be open, then closed then open, then masks and 1.5 metres separation. It was hard, especially when Sydney was in lockdown. That's such a big part of our trade especially on weekends and that Christmas-New Year period."

Little wonder then that, with the state opening up again, last Christmas Books decided to throw a Christmas party at the Tavern for his staff and their partners as a way of thanking them for their efforts.

"I just wanted to treat them for all they've been through."

What happened?

"Eighteen out of 20 caught COVID and we had to shut the pub again for Christmas and New Year," he says, breaking into that familiar laugh again.

That's some sense of humour he's got.

Footnote: The Wollombi Tavern is again serving snack food and drink on a temporary basis until restoration work is complete.