Longacres have issued the following statement following the fire yesterday at their Shepperton Garden Centre:
Statement re fire at Longacres Garden Centre, Nutty Lane, Shepperton, on Tuesday 13th April 2021
"The fire started at a premises adjacent to far end of the garden centre, next to our goods in area and storage yard.
"A member of staff spotted the fire at approximately 12:15pm and called 999 immediately. Emergency services arrived in minutes.
"The store was evacuated and closed for the rest of the day. We reopened Wednesday morning.
"We’re happy to report there were no injuries.
"The damage is still being assessed; initial checks show large amounts of damage to infrastructure (power and other cabling has been destroyed) and there was also property and stock damage.
We’d like to thank the emergency services for their very quick response and the excellent job they did in preventing the spread of the fire."
Family-run Longacres Garden Centres opened their first store in Bagshot, Surrey in 1979. The Shepperton store was opened in 2013.
Now with 5 stores and a large online presence, the company employs approximately 600 staff. The Bagshot store has been ranked the number 1 garden centre by turnover every year since 2009.
www.longacres.co.uk
Yesterday we reported on the news that a fire had broken out at the centre.
The Surrey Comet has video footage of the blaze at the back of the centre.
Nigel Long told GTN Xtra: "Everyone is ok. We won't know what damage to the buildings and stock until the fire service let us back in. The fire has mainly affected the storage and goods inwards area."
Surrey Fire & Rescue report: "Drone team called out to support @SurreyFRS at an industrial fire on Nutty Lane in #Shepperton. Please avoid the area and close windows/doors," while Spelthorne Beat (Surrey Police) @SpelthorneBeat
have said: "We are currently assisting our fire service colleagues @SurreyFRS with a large scale industrial fire in Nutty Lane, #Shepperton. No one is believed to have been injured at this time. Thanks to everyone for their patience while we deal with this incident..