Firefighters thanked after kitchen fire at Peterborough club

Fire crews rushed to The Grange off Charlotte Way in Netherton on Tuesday afternoon where the flames were quickly extinguished, although internal damage means catering services are out of action until at least the weekend.

The club, which has a licensed bar, plays host to Netherton United and darts and poker competitions, as well as weddings and birthday parties.

Its food offering includes everything from buffets and hog roasts to bacon butties for the footballers, as well as tea and coffee.

Owner Nathan Higgins told the Peterborough Telegraph: “The fire was located in the kitchen and luckily the fire crews stopped it from spreading into the function rooms.

“The fire brigade did a really great job. They were here within five minutes.”

Mr Higgins had also been able to move all chemicals away from the flames to prevent the fire from getting out of control, which helped the firefighters to prevent it from spreading to any other parts of the clubhouse when they arrived at the scene.

Repair work is now underway to get the catering facilities ready for customers as soon as possible.

Mr Higgins added: “We are now looking at the electrics and trying to get the kitchen up and running as fast as we can.

“We’re also giving everything a clean.

“We’re working as hard as possible to honour as many bookings as possible. The kitchen is not open at the moment, but we’re aiming to try and get it up and running at the weekend.

“The football is continuing as normal and people are actually playing now.”

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fire at The Grange was started accidentally.

Fire crews from Dogsthorpe, Stanground and Yaxley were called out to the incident shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.

A fire service spokesperson said: “Crews arrived to find a single storey building well alight measuring 30m x 10m.

“Wearing breathing apparatus, firefighters used two hose reels and one jet to extinguish the fire before returning to their station by 6.10pm.

“The cause of the fire was accidental.”