Pub loses 75% of sales after fire rips through nearby hotel

By Nicholas Robinson

- Last updated on GMT

Open as usual: Greene King pub the Rudds Arms suffered a sales drop after fire (image: Google Maps)
Open as usual: Greene King pub the Rudds Arms suffered a sales drop after fire (image: Google Maps)
A Greene King pub in Middlesbrough lost roughly 75% of its weekly takings following a fire at a nearby deserted hotel, which is also believed to have spread asbestos in the immediate area.

The abandoned Marton Hotel & Country Club in the suburbs of the town caught alight on Thursday (13 June), resulting in the evacuation of the pub and nearby properties.

Some residents in the area are reportedly still unable to return home, however, Greene King-owned Rudds Arms in Marton, Teesside, reopened for business on Father’s Day (Sunday 16 June).

“It was Thursday evening and we could smell smoke. It was coming from over at the country club,” said the pub’s general manager James Kelly.

Windows and doors locked

“The fire brigade arrived at 7pm and we had been told to keep all of our windows and doors closed. And they evacuated the pub later,” he continued.

“We weren’t able to open until Sunday morning, so we had been closed from Thursday evening, all day Friday and Saturday and then opened on Sunday.

“But the road outside the pub was closed, so no one could get to us on Father’s Day other than the locals.”

Customers, however, have began to return to the pub, although Kelly said it was still quieter than usual.

Weekly takings lost

It is believed the pub has lost around 75% of its weekly takings as a result of the fire at the country club, which is based just a few hundred yards away across the road.

“Luckily, we have a refurbishment planned for next week and we are closing on Sunday for that and hoping it will be busy once we reopen,” added Kelly.

Officials have said the burnt-out building is now secure and demolition work to knock the remaining structure down has begun.

However, safety advisers have warned that some parts of the building may have contained asbestos, some of which could have been released by the fire and deposited as ash in the area.

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