Meadow Croft Garden Centre in Essex has closed its restaurant following a fire on Monday night.

The garden centre informed customers of the blaze on its Facebook page. It posted: “Due to an unfortunate fire last night in our restaurant, we are really sorry to let you all know that Meadow Croft Kitchen will be closed for the foreseeable future. The rest of the garden centre and the German Market will be open as usual.”

It went on to state: “We would just like to say a big heart-warming thank you to every single person that has given us their best wishes or has visited us.

“We are so thankful for the fire service that helped contain and put out the fire within the kitchen.

“We appreciate every staff member that has helped us figure out a path forward and ways to continue offering as much as we can for our customers.”