A fire which destroyed a number of stalls at Kingston's Ancient Market and damaged a number of nearby shops in the early hours of Tuesday is thought to have been started by a fridge with an electrical fault.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said today (Thursday, 8 October) the suspected faulty appliance "requires further verification" by an electrical testing firm. It has not said where the fridge was located.

The LFB has already concluded the fire was "accidental" and the Met Police told Nub News on Wednesday (7 October) that it is not treating the incident as suspicious and that it will provide no further updates.

Kingston Council said on Thursday "Work to make the damaged buildings safe is under way" and the clean up "will commence once it is safe to do so."

The undamaged parts of the market have today reopened and some stalls are back trading. Construction workerkers are currently on site beginning work to fix the market.



Parts of the market have reopened (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)

The fire damaged nearby shops, as well as the market stalls.

Lush, Greggs, Hotter and the bureau de change are some of the shops that have been impacted.

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Anmol Brahmbhatt, who works by the market, told the BBC: "There's a lot of speculation whether this can be repaired in time for Christmas or not.

"This market is the heart of Kingston. It's always thriving from the time it opens to the time it closes. It's sad to see that the market stallholders are going to have a loss of earnings due to this, too."