Gurkha pub hit by blaze open 24 hours later

A FIRE-TORN Nuneaton pub was re-opened less than 24 hours after a blaze broke out in its roof.

In true Gurkha spirit, the ‘Nuneaton Gurkha Corner’ pub, formerly known as the Parade on Coton Road was open again at 12noon on Saturday, less than a day after the fire.

Om Gurung, MBE, chair of the Nuneaton and Bedworth branch of the British Gurkha Veterans Association, explained that it was thanks to the efforts of volunteers that they were able to re-open the doors in record time.

“We were lucky, the damage to the roof was not as bad as we first thought,” he said.

“The fire crews were brilliant, they did a brilliant job stopping the fire spreading through the rest of the building and we would like to thank them for that.

“There was some water damage, they used 18,000 litres of water and obviously that came into all of the building but we were determined to reopen.”

Such was the turnaround that the bar was open again at 12noon on Saturday and one of the three-weekly yoga sessions, which are held in the function room, took place on Monday ( June 11).

“I would like to say thank you to the fire service and also to the many volunteers who came on Friday night to make sure we could re-open again at 12noon the next day,” Mr Gurung said.

Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fire, which led to huge traffic delays not only around Coton Road but across town.

Crews from Nuneaton and Bedworth responded to the initial 999 call, with the engine from Nuneaton arriving at the scene in just four minutes.

They called for backup and another engine was sent from Nuneaton and one from neighbouring Atherstone. An aerial platform had to be used as part of the operation to stop the flames from spreading into the rest of the building.

Firefighters were at the scene for several hours as they damped down the roof following the fire.

It was back in April that the Telegraph revealed that a group of Gurha veterans had taken over the Ex-Servicemen’s Club – making it the first of its kind in the country.

‘Nuneaton Gurkha Corner’ is still open as a bar but the function room at the venue is used as place where popular yoga sessions are held, as well as English lessons.