'Our soul-destroying battle for HS2 compensation'

"Coming back is absolutely soul destroying. To see what was such a vibrant area and it's now a hole in the ground. The pub would have been bustling with people going to and from the station. It's a ghost town. Unbelievable."

Craig Douglas is talking to me right next to the site where his pub, the Bree Louise, once stood.

It is now a barren, brownfield site where not much work is going on.

It is the first time that Craig and his wife Karen have returned for a long time. Karen has tears in her eyes as she sees the area now.

As we are talking, someone who knows them yells "hello" out of a window. They are warmly welcomed in Speedy's cafe nearby.

The couple were once part of this community but say they are not anymore.

"We were a really busy pub," says Craig. "We spent years developing it. We were pub of the year in 2016. We had 21 real ales and 10 real ciders on every day. Not only are we mourning it, thousands of people every week mourned it not being here.

"The memories - they can't take that away from us."

The High Speed 2 (HS2) railway was meant to link London Euston to the north via Birmingham.

It is meant to shorten journey times while also freeing up capacity on the existing routes for more local services and freight.

But the scheme has now been cut so trains will only go from London to Birmingham.

It is also unclear if it will go from Euston or Old Oak Common as the funding at Euston seems dependent on private developers.

I first met Craig and Karen six years ago when they ran the Bree Louise pub in Euston.

I have followed their journey to get compensation and met them a few times over that period.

When people talk about getting compensation, it is not always clear how difficult and all-consuming it can be. But the impact it has had on Karen and Craig is certainly obvious.

For Craig, he says he finds it wearing and tiring - and still the case has not been settled.

"We're getting there, but next week it will be six years and eight months. With what they have offered us now, if they'd offered us that five years ago we'd have bitten their hands off.

"But after all this time it has been soul-destroying. They have done delaying tactics, they're nasty people to be honest," he says.

Craig and Karen moved out of London to a cheaper area on the south coast while they fought for compensation from HS2. Since then they have lost many of the connections of a life in Euston.

While they will not say publicly how much compensation they think they are due, it was a very successful business and their home was destroyed so the amount should be substantial.

They have already received some money, but it has run out and they say they now struggle to make ends meet.

The fight for compensation has also come at a cost to their health.

"They know my mental state and where I've been," says Craig.

"My health, my mental health, my wife's the same. Stress, anxiety, depression. I've had a month in rehab for alcoholism - quite ironic being a publican.

"It has been very painful. It brings tears to my eyes."

It is also not yet clear if HS2 will actually have a terminus in Euston, although rumours are that it will be confirmed soon.

The site has been mothballed for two years and the high speed line could still end at Old Oak Common. Plans at Euston are still changing.

The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer recently told BBC London the plans remained "under review".

"I know first hand the development that's going on at Euston but like so many other things we have inherited a real mess. A project that massively went over budget, was undeliverable and we have had to pick up the pieces of that. And I will give you an answer on the final decisions just as soon as I can," he said.

Craig believes the whole scheme has been a waste of time.

He says: "What was the point of doing all this? Initially they wanted it for platforms for HS2. Now it's an additional station development zone.

"It will never be a platform, or the station it was meant to be, which is, they told me, why they had to take my pub away from me. Not just my pub, my house, my home. It's where all my kids grew up here."

In spite of the struggle it has caused both him and his wife, Craig says he is not giving up on getting compensation.

"We will get it in the end, but whether it will be enough to last me the rest of my life I don't know. I can still see myself going out to work in my late sixties.

"My life has been totally on hold. The health side of things. I'm not in the greatest of health now. They know what they have done to me," he adds.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “Due to the ongoing tribunal process there is a limited amount we can say about this case. However, we do believe that we have made Mr Douglas a fair and equitable compensation offer – based on the supporting evidence he has supplied.

“We have made repeated efforts to come to a final settlement with Mr Douglas and we are actively continuing to seek to reach an agreement.”

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