The clear up of Kingston's Ancient Market is well underway following the serious fire in the early hours of Tuesday, 6 October.

The blaze destroyed several stalls in the Ancient Market as well as nearby businesses such as Lush, Greggs, and Hotter.

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.

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



However, The market was forced to close again over the weekend as a number of further safety concerns were identified. A full clean up of the market began last week.

In a statement released today (Friday, 16 October), Kingston Council said: "The market remains closed to allow the demolition and removal of damaged stalls to take place, along with remedial works to address further safety issues and the full clean up of the area.

"Work on site is progressing and we are currently expecting the market to start to reopen from Monday, 19 October.

"For those who lost their stalls in the fire, this will take a bit longer, as we work with Between the Bridges to support them to provide temporary stalls to enable them to trade.

"Traders will not be liable for pitch fees while they are unable to trade and we are working with Between the Bridges to support them and help mitigate the loss of earnings.

"While all market stalls will be closed this week, businesses around the perimeter of the market unaffected by the fire will be open as normal. We are also working to support the businesses in buildings damaged by the fire to ensure the area is safe and ready for them to begin their own repair works."

Leader of Kingston Council Andreas Kirsch added: "We are working hard to reopen Kingston's Ancient Market safely following the devastating fire. Clear up work at the site is progressing well and we are currently expecting the market to start to reopen next week.

"We understand how hard this is for traders but the safety of everyone who uses the market is our priority and we will take every precaution necessary.

"We took the responsible decision to close the market to protect traders and the public. This gives us time to address additional safety issues at the same time as removing the damaged stalls and beginning clean up of the area.

"We're working with the market operator to support traders. Of course, they won't pay pitch fees while the market is closed and we're urgently working to find temporary locations for those whose stalls were destroyed by the fire.

"We're working as hard as we can to get the market open again safely as soon as possible and fully expect to be ready for the Christmas market.''

Nub News has contacted Between the Bridges for comment.