Fire tears through Noir Bar in Weybridge

Jul 1 2009 By Vicki Eltis

POPULAR Weybridge nightclub Noir Bar will be closed for the 'foreseeable future' after a fire tore through the roof on Tuesday evening.

Noir Bar, in Heath Road, had only recently been refurbished and relaunched when the blaze erupted at 7pm. Crews from Chertsey and Painshill were called as a fire in the kitchen threatened to burn out of control.

The fire was contained to the right hand side of the upstairs area by firefighters and did not spread to the lower level but staff say water and smoke damage will take a long time to clean up.

Paul Benewith, a graphic designer and DJ, was holding his Touch Business Networking event, which is held every Tuesday, at the time of the fire.

He said: "It's pretty bad. Most of us were outside networking. The next thing we knew the alarms were going off and smoke was billowing from the roofs. Everyone left the bar and luckily no one was hurt."

Owners Roger Sabey and Paul Helas were believed to be on holiday.

Commuters and traffic came to a standstill as they watched the crews smash through the roof to douse the flames.

Russell Murphy, of New Road, said: "I was just coming up from the station when a woman just came up to me and told me that the roof was on fire. The fire crews arrived within about seven minutes. It certainly made the walk home more exciting."

The smaller of the two roofs have been destroyed and the true extent of the damage is still not entirely known.

Fionn Keywood-Travers, from Walton, who often goes to Noir Bar said: "It is a complete shock. I just hope that they can pick themselves up from this. It is the only place like it in the area."

A spokesman said: "The management and the bar staff would like to let everyone know that it will be closed until further notice. We apologise to anyone who has any pre booked evenings planned, or to all the guest list requests and entries for the forth coming weeks."

Do you go to Noir Bar? Are you shocked to hear about the fire? Post a comment below.