Guest house partially washed away during flood goes up for sale

A Hawick guest house and cafe that was partially washed away in floods has gone on the market.

Video footage captured the moment river-facing walls of the Bridge Guest House building dramatically collapsed into the Teviot at the height of Storm Ciara in February 2020.

At the time, owner Gino Antonacci told the BBC that he had managed to get all guests out as river levels continued to rise and cracks began to appear in the walls.

The remains of the seven-bedroom property have a guide price of £40,000.

Although Hawick had been hit by several large floods in the decade before Storm Ciara, the Bridge Guest House had not been affected.

However, as water levels rose on 8 February 2020, cracks began to appear - with large sections falling into the river the following morning.

Antonacci added: "We had some signs of the wall going under the water.

"There were cracks coming in the wall, so we evacuated the premises.

"At night the river was very strong and high - and in the morning it just collapsed."

Since the collapse of the Bridge Guest House, a £106m flood defence scheme has been completed in Hawick, protecting about 970 buildings.

Work began on the project - one of the largest in Scotland - a few months after Storm Ciara.

It has been designed to protect about 1,000 homes from a one-in-75-year event and consists of about two miles (3km) of flood defences.

Although some of the old building has gone, the remainder - now surrounded by high walls - still has seven en-suite bedrooms over two floors, although little is left of the cafe.

Selling agents Jim Hay stated: "The property is being sold as seen, and any new building must be within the original footprint of the existing building."