Former GBPA finalist ‘closed until further notice’ after fire
Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were called to the Thirsty Bear on Stamford Street in central London at 12.48pm on 22 July after reports of a fire.
According to the London Fire Brigade, crews from Lambeth, Dockhead, Soho, Brixton and Whitechapel had the blaze at the Southwark pub under control just under two hours later at 2.43pm.
Locals were urged to avoid the area with station commander David Bracewell, who was at the scene, stating that crews had been forced to closed Stamford Street between Blackfriars Bridge and Waterloo Roundabout while firefighters worked to make the area safe.
Firefighters from Lambeth, Dockhead, Soho, Whitechapel, Brixton and Euston are tackling a fire at the Thirsty Bear pub in Stamford Street pic.twitter.com/1KD0YVXu7l
— London SE1 Community Website (@se1) July 22, 2020
While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, the pub – which was a finalist in the 2017 GBPA Best for Sport category – will remain closed until further notice, a statement on its Facebook page the morning after the blaze read.
The incident comes less than three weeks after the pub reopened on 4 July following 105 days of enforced closure due to coronavirus after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called last orders in pubs on 20 March.
“We are sad to announce that The Thirsty Bear will be closed until further notice due to the outbreak of a fire in our premises yesterday,” the post read.
“No one was injured and the building [was] successfully vacated but substantial damage has been caused.
The safety of our employees and customers is paramount to us and we will only re-open once we are confident that it's safe to do so.
“We want to take this opportunity to thank all of the emergency services that attended site and assisted in bringing the fire under control. You are all heroes to us and we can never thank you enough for running into situations that others are running away from.”
The pub, previously known as the Stamford Arms, is well known as an early adopter of self-service ordering with the installation of an iPad system and tabletop taps.
