Bradford on Avon has been brought to a standstill today, with the town bridge flooding and emergency services advising against travelling to the town.

Firefighters were called to the town last night to deal with flooded homes and businesses, with the River Avon bursting its banks at either end of the Town Bridge shortly before midday today.

All the main roads into the town are currently blocked, and rail services from the town station have been severely affected.

The Fat Fowl restaurant on Silver Street has cancelled all Christmas bookings after its kitchen flooded.

Owner Arlene Caddow said: “We cannot believe it.

“We will be clearing up today and through to Christmas Day. We had lunch and dinner bookings that we are now going to have to cancel.

“The problem is that it’s coming up through the drain in the kitchen, so we can no longer cook, and can’t open until it’s sanitised.”

Her husband Mark Kendell said: “We have not seen it like this since 2000.

“There is nothing else we can do now, but there has been total camaraderie, people have come out to help each other, but the drivers have been extremely inconsiderate.”

Tattoo artist Verity Fox, who owns the Silver Street Custom Tattoo Shop, has also seen her business flooded.

She said: “I moved into the shop mine months ago, and I’ve never seen anything like this. This morning it was fine, but then it started coming into the shop. I had a flood guard but it didn’t do anything.

“When it started I went into the middle of Silver Street to guide cars through, we were trying to get traffic through, one car at a time.

“Drivers were so inconsiderate; they were not slowing down, it was a nightmare. We were getting angry and they were getting angry towards us.

“Now we are going to wait until it goes down when we can start pumping out the shop. We were not expecting it to be this bad, but you can’t stop Mother Nature.”

As well as Silver Street Market Street has been closed, along with most of the main routes into town.

Firefighter Jon Salisbury, from Trowbridge Fire Station, said: “We would urge people not to drive to Bradford on Avon, and to choose other routes.”