It was an unusual but necessary step for British Waterways to take.

Long spells of dry weather and concerns about depleting reservoir stocks forced the company which looks after 2,200 miles of the country’s canals and rivers to close almost half of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Britain’s longest man-made waterway.

Weeks into the closure of the canal, from Wigan to Gargrave, there are still no signs of the waterway being re-opened, leaving businesses who rely on the boating trade for their livelihood desperately praying for rain.

Ian Clarke, the proprietor of Pennine Cruisers in Skipton, says his August bookings are down by 20 per cent compared to previous years, and he estimates that September’s bookings could be down by as much as 50 per cent.

Private boats and passing trade which the company relies on to support its dry dock have also dried up due to the canal’s closure.

“We have to sell enough holidays to pay our bills. If the canal is closed we get no income,” he says.

Mr Clarke, who has spent the majority of his working life around the canal, believes British Waterways could have done more.

“It’s very obvious to see what was going to happen,” he says. “This has been on the cards for a while. We had a close call last year and the year before, despite full reservoirs. It should not happen. They need to look after the core structure.”

While, Mr Clarke is all for seeing cyclists and walkers enjoying the towpaths, he believes that some of the money spent on ‘prettifying’ the canal could be better spent on maintenance.

He claims too much water is wasted topping up leaks.

The canal’s closure almost forced Lee Shepherd out of business. The retired warrant officer, who grew up in Wyke, was forced to temporarily relocate the boat business he set up last year in Hapton, Lancashire, to Apperley Bridge Marina.

“I know some companies are saying it is costing £40,000, but because we are a new company every booking we get is an extra booking,” he says.

He appreciates that the closure is down to natural circumstances, and says if British Waterways hadn’t given him the idea to temporarily relocate, his business would have been “belly-up.”

“We just have to get on with it and make sure it does not happen next year and the year after,” he says.

A spokeswoman for British Waterways says: “Our canal is more than 200 years old. Canals are not watertight structures so there have been leaks in the past.

“The difficulty this year is with the amount of rain we have had. If the leaks were the sole problem, we would be closing year on year on year. Because we have had such low rainfall we have had to close the canal.

“It is terribly disrupting and it is a very unusual step for us to take. It is a last resort for us because we are in the business of keeping our canals open for everybody.”

She said British Waterways had to retain a ten per cent holding in the reservoir to protect aquatic life.

Although the reservoirs were full at the beginning of the year following heavy snowfall, she said low rainfall and warm temperatures since then “have conspired to lead us to this situation.”

She says British Waterways’ intention is to open the affected stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool canal as soon as possible, but supply reservoir levels remain low and, despite recent downpours, they are only creeping up slowly.

The company is liaising with businesses affected by the closure and has facilitated relocations to other stretches of the canal network.

British Waterways has also brought forward its winter work programme while the canal has been closed, carrying out £100,000 worth of work including maintaining lock gates, refurbishing and replacing paddles and carrying out leak repairs.