Wimbledon Common Pubs Forced To Close After Blaze


Video catches moment thick black smoke is seen between popular pubs

Andrew Ford at the Hand in Hand pub in Wimbledon

Hand in Hand landlord Andrew Ford celebrates the re-opening

Two neighbouring Wimbledon Common pubs had to close for a day after a fire broke out between them.

The Hand in Hand and Crooked Billet had to evacute the premises when the fire started. Thick black smoke was seen between the two buildings on Thursday afternoon (November 4).

Twitter user Bryan posted this video on his @thebeardyboy71 account, showing the extent of the smoke.

Both pubs, which are part of the Young's brewery group, closed for the rest of the day and announced everyone was safe.

The Crooked Billet said on its Twitter account: "We’re sorry to announce we’ve temporarily closed our doors after a small fire started in between us and our sister pub the Hand in Hand.

"Please rest assured everyone is safe and there's no internal damage. We can’t wait to welcome you back and will be open again as soon as possible."

The Hand in Hand also reported no internal damage and landlord Andrew Ford was pictured (above) welcoming customers back on Friday evening. He thanked the people who helped the pub get ready to re-open again.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

November 5, 2021