An electrical fault may have been the cause of a fire in the kitchen of a Northampton pub.
The blaze at the Fiddler’s Arms in Wellingborough Road was discovered by cleaner Hawa Kamara at just after 8am this morning.
She said: “I opened the door and saw some smoke and immediately ran upstairs to get people up.
“I banged on the doors and shouted their names but I found nobody was there. I found later they had gone out early, so I was very pleased.”
The kitchen area at the St Edmund’s Road end of the building, is understood to not be often in use, and contains appliances such as a freezer.
Three crews were called to the scene and made the building safe using a water jet and, afterwards, breathing apparatus.
Darren Wesley, who is looking after the pub on behalf of the owners, said: “I haven’t had a look around so I can’t see how much damage there is.
“For that reason I can’t say whether we’ll be closed for long. The fire hasn’t touched the bar area, there’s just smoke in there because the internal doors had to be opened.”
Firefighters were damping down the scene by 9.30am and one crew is to remain at the pub for the rest of the morning.
Station manager Warren Ellison said: “We used the Cobra high pressure water jet, so that we could bring the fire under control from outside before sending any men in.
“That was really what prevented the fire from spreading.”