The landlord of the Fox and Duck in Therfield had been preparing for his busiest weekend of the year, only to find the pub without gas and his hopes of reopening fully in tatters.

Ivan Titmuss was excited to welcome customers inside at the weekend for the first time this year. Instead, on Saturday lunchtime, he found the gas had not been delivered the previous day.

He said: "Over the year we have struggled but everyone was being positive, the country is opening up and people are getting jabs. We were expecting one of the busiest weekends for a long time.

"I thought the gas issue would be urgent, but every hour I was phoning and no one could tell me what was going on.

"That afternoon we had to ring customers and tell them the situation.

"On Sunday, I thought 'they have to turn up today it's our busiest day'. I was trying to see if I could get gas bottles elsewhere but it wasn't as simple as that.

"We had food sitting there that couldn't be used. I phoned other pubs in the area to see if they had any spaces.

"To lose two days is massive, we'll be struggling for a few weeks to make up for this."

On Monday morning, Ivan was told a delivery attempt was made on Friday, but they couldn't gain access.

Calor did make the delivery successfully on Tuesday at noon.

Ivan said: "We are now open and every trading hour is precious. We are looking forward to the new summer menu coming out, and hopefully the weather is going to be good this weekend. The service that people know and love will be there. We are looking forward to welcoming customers back into the Fox and Duck."

A spokesperson for Calor told the Crow "We would first like to offer our apologies for any inconvenience experienced. The delivery was attempted on the scheduled day, May 21, but access to the tank was blocked and closed.

"The driver attempted to gain access and make contact to fulfil the delivery, but was unable to do so. The delivery was rescheduled and has been made today.

"Once again we apologise for the inconvenience experienced and we will review the agreed communications process in order that better information can be provided to ensure access can be gained on the day of delivery."

For more on the Fox and Duck go to https://thefoxandduck.co.uk/