Yummy Pub Co Euston site to reopen after fire

Yummy Pub Co’s Somers Town Coffee House pub in Euston, central London, will hold a “hard hat party” to mark its reopening. 

A blaze broke out on the evening of Friday 22 June, with large billows of smoke surrounding the pub. Nobody was reported injured and staff evacuated the venue within three minutes.

The Euston pub will be open for business again on Thursday 12 July 3pm and said it wants to raise money for the London Fire Brigade and those who helped the pub to reopen in such a short time frame.

Feeling positive

Yummy Pub Co managing director and co-owner Anthony Pender told The Morning Advertiser​ that the pub was feeling positive about its reopening.

“All the trade areas are up and running, but there will be scaffolding outside for six months while the roof is redone.”

The pub estimated the total costs of restoring the pub will reach north of £1m, with current estimated costs for this week's reopening at £300,000. In addition to building work, hundreds of pounds worth of beer was thrown away by the pub to avoid contamination or loss of quality.

Thirty contractors have been working on the pub and will be doing so up until the evening before the relaunch.

However, staff morale has remained high, thanks to the support from community services.

“It’s been hard work for everyone, down to the insurance. It’s been a team effort between different authorities,” he added.

‘We’ve kept normality going. We got everyone together on Monday night for a few drinks, to help staff acclimatise to them talking to each other and to us.

“We wanted to put staff’s minds at ease and reassure them they would all be paid. We’ve been sending staff to other sites to do training or to be trained. We’ve been using the time and continuing to pay staff.

'Raring to go'

“They’re raring to go and want to get back into Somers Town. The vibe out there is really positive.”

“Everyone’s been really positive, it’s not the end of the world. There have been a lot of amazing people helping us to reopen and we wanted to celebrate that instead.”

The pub said it believed the fire was most likely started by a member of the public flicking a cigarette from another building.

In a Facebook post they said: “Just like we said, it wasn't the kitchen, it wasn't our team.

“There is a lesson for us all, one simple thoughtless act with no malice could have endangered lives and has caused hundreds of thousands in damage.