The owner of an award-winning bakery in Rickmansworth “panics” every time there is heavy rain amid fears his shop could flood.

Paul Barker, owner of the hugely popular Cinnamon Square in Church Street, said they were holding a children’s party when torrential rain struck last Wednesday.

Water gushed into the bakery, leaving a few inches of water on the floor and the staff at the shop faced a huge clear-up operation.

Mr Barker was forced to go and stand outside in a bid to slow traffic down as a number of cars were driving through the huge build-up of water outside his shop and creating a “wall of water” that was heading towards the shop.

He said: “We had a full shop. We had a children’s party on at the time and there was water coming in at the front of the shop and at the rear.

“For a time, we could not operate. Customers could not get in and they could not get out. Then we had the down-time to try and get rid of the water.

“Every time it rains, I panic. It could have happened at night and then when we come back to open up, it would have been in a real state.

“I have been here ten years and I have never been party to anything that could resolve the problem.

“We have got a drain outside the front of the shop that doesn’t work. The water does not drain away and it just runs down into my shop.”

Employees at Savills Estate Agents in Church Street described how the path was completely flooded, meaning people could not get down the road.

Natasha Pollard said: “It is a nightmare for traffic because cars could not get down the road and people could not walk down there.”

Julian Clarke, who also works at the estate agents in Church Street, said “it did take a while” for the water to drain away.

Both told the Watford Observer that Cinnamon Square had been flooded “several times”.

Mr Clarke added: “He [Paul Barker] to prevent cars driving through it because when cars were driving through it, it was like a wall of water.”

Kevin Carrol, Ringway Divisional Manager, working on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “We did not receive any reports of flooding on Church Street following the heavy rain last week.

“Although gullies are routinely cleaned across the county and Church Street was cleaned in November last year, it is worth bearing in mind that during exceptionally heavy downpours the drainage system sometimes can’t cope with the amount of water that collects on surrounding surfaces.

“No amount of cleaning gullies would help with this but once the rain stops, the flooding usually recedes quite quickly although in some cases this can take longer if the sewers and watercourses are full.

“However, if this problem persists, we would urge residents and businesses to report it as it happens to www.hertsdirect.org/highwayfaults in order investigations can be carried out to determine if there are indeed underlying drainage issues.”