https://proudstars.blogspot.com/2016/01/battle-of-tadcaster-bridge-on-one-side.html
Battle of Tadcaster Bridge: On one side, locals cut off after floods destroyed their bridge. On the other, a brewery baron blocking a lifeline that would save them a 10-mile trip. Cue a rising tide of fury!
Tadcaster has been two separate communities ever since recent floods snapped its ancient bridge in half (top right), two days before New Year's Eve, writes ROBERT HARDMAN. On one side are the residents, the town and county councils, the local MP, the mayor of Tadcaster and even the Prime Minister. On the other is Humphrey Smith (bottom right), 71, hereditary ruler of the Samuel Smith brewery empire, 300 pubs across Britain and thousands of acres of Yorkshire, including much of Tadcaster. The former want to build a temporary footbridge across the river, alongside the broken structure, to reunite everybody until the original road bridge can be repaired. But Mr Smith owns the land where the new structure needs to go. And, for now at least, he is refusing to surrender a square foot, arguing that the interim bridge 'won't be a thing of beauty' and might become a permanent fixture.
