Wycombe Rye’s Boathouse Café says it has seen a slump in trade following the death of a dog last month.

A dog passed away in June after drinking water from the Dyke, while other dogs also reportedly became ill after being walked in the Rye.

Following the tragedy, the Boathouse stopped renting out the three pedalos and nine rowing boats it has available to hire on the Dyke, at the instruction of Buckinghamshire Council.

The pause on rentals came as the authority tested the half-mile-long boating lake for dangerous toxins.

However, the test results have still not come back, and the Boathouse remains unable to let people hire its boats.

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“They are not allowed to do that at the minute, so we do have a decline in intake,” café assistant Debbey Hardy told the Bucks Free Press.

The Boathouse’s ‘regular customers’ are still visiting the café and it has ‘not seen a drop in the number of people coming’ overall.

However, the eatery, which charges £10 per half hour for boat rentals, makes a ‘majority of its income’ from those wanting to cruise down the Dyke.

The restaurant said the council had confirmed that the lake was being testing but that it had not heard back about the results.

Debbey said the council intervened when a dog walker told staff at the café that their pet had died after drinking water from the Dyke.

She added: “We literally just got a call from the council, who said we were not allowed to use the water, that the water was contaminated. That’s it. End of conversation. They will send someone to test it.”

The café worker claimed that they were unable to use the boats properly even before the dog died due to the growth of vegetation in the Dyke.

She said: “All the moss was in there. The council usually sends someone to clear it out and they hadn’t done it properly, so it was everywhere.

“We couldn’t get the boats down the water and every time someone came and asked for a boat, they came and asked for a refund because they couldn’t actually get down the river.”

Vegetation was cleared from the Dyke last week as part of a ‘routine annual programme of works’, according to Clive Harriss, the council’s cabinet member for culture and leisure.

He added: “Buckinghamshire Council was made aware of the situation at the Rye following a report from the owner of a dog that sadly died.

“In response to the concerns raised, we have commissioned an assessment of the water in the Dyke next to the Rye.

“We will review the situation once we have received these results, which are expected to be made available to us in the next few days.

“In the meantime, if owners have any concerns about the water quality in this location, we would advise them to keep their dogs on a lead and not to let them into the water as a precaution.”

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