Alton Garden Centre had to close its Digby’s Restaurant after firefighters battled a blaze at the store on the night of Wednesday, December 7. The restaurant has since re-opened, serving a menu of hot drinks and light snacks, and the rest of the centre continued to be fully operational.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service were called to Altons Garden Centre in Wickford, Essex, at 9.29pm on Wednesday. The fire took hold in the roof of the building and some of the store was left smoke-damaged.

The fire had been extinguished by midnight thanks to the 15 fire engines and approximately 40 fire fighters who attended. One firefighter remained at the scene into the morning to dampen down and check for hotspots.

Garden centre managing director Derek Bunker told BBC news: "It could have been a lot worse.

"Fifty per cent of the shop is completely untouched but there is smoke damage elsewhere."

He said the restaurant had to be shut for a while as there was a lot of damage there.

"It hurts but in business these things happen."

An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway with one possible line of inquiry being that it may have started in a dishwasher in the kitchen area.

Andy Bunker told GTN Xtra: "Thank goodness for the steel fire dorrs and shutters, they did their job.  Huge thanks to the fire brigade and the 15 fire engines that came to the site after our security guard raised the alarm.  Even more thanks to all of our staff and our local suppliers for turning things around so quickly, we had the centre back open by 11:00am on the 8th December."