Questions as to whether Kingston's Christmas Market will go ahead this year have been circulating in the borough following a fire in the Market Place on Tuesday morning (6 October).

The blaze broke out in the early hours of Tuesday and destroyed several stalls in the Ancient Market as well as nearby businesses such as Lush, Greggs, and Hotter.

(Video Credit: Toni & Guy Kingston)

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) sent four fire engines and around 25 firefighters to tackle the blaze, and the market was cordoned off while the LFB and the Met carried out an investigation.

The services concluded their investigation on Thursday (8 October) with the Met telling Nub News that it is not treating the incident as suspicious and the undamaged parts of the market reopened with traders returning to work as normal.

Construction workers could be seen on site on Thursday, starting work to fix the damaged parts of the market.

Construction workers could be seen on site on Thursday, starting work to fix the damaged parts of the market (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)

LFB later revealed that the fire was caused by a faulty fridge.

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In a statement on Thursday, Kingston Council's leader Cllr Andreas Kirsch said: "We're working as hard as we can to get the site safe and secure, and to support traders to get back to work as soon as possible.

"I'm really pleased that the market is reopening and stallholders and businesses not directly impacted by the fire have been able to start trading again.

"Our priority now is to continue to support those affected and help ensure our much-loved market recovers as soon as possible."

So will Kingston's Christmas Market return next month as normal?

According to the council, the Christmas Market is likely to return this year.

A Kingston Council spokesperson said: ""We are expecting our renowned Christmas Market to open next month as planned, and encourage everyone to come and visit."

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