Huge fire destroys tearoom in Stowupland

A huge fire has destroyed a quaint tearoom in Stowupland.

The blaze broke out yesterday, Saturday, January 29, at Nutshells Tearoom, at Walnut Tree Farm, in Gipping Road.

At the height of the incident nearly 30 fire vehicles were called to the location from as far away as Essex with crews coming from multiple stations, including Ipswich East, Woodbridge, Princes Street in Ipswich, Framlingham, Eye, Stowmarket, Haverhill, Bury St Edmunds, Ixworth and Newmarket.

It broke out just before 10am and residents experienced power cuts and were asked to keep their doors and windows shut.

Twenty-nine fire vehicles, including two aerial ladder platforms, were called to the scene along with a team from UK Power Networks.

A spokesman for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said there was a “low level risk” of asbestos after it was thought to have been found in the roof of one of the buildings.

By noon, there were 10 pumps on the scene and the fire was described as “not currently under control”.

However an hour later crews on the scene said “good progress” was being made tackling the blaze and it was deemed under control just before 3.30pm although crews remained on the scene liaising with the owner of the buildings to make the structures safe.

According to the fire service, the cause of the blaze is thought to have been “accidental”.

Suffolk police officers were called to the scene to close surrounding roads.

A police spokesman said Rendall Lane and Gipping Road — the roads immediately around the scene of the fire — were closed but reopened later in the day.

Residents of Saxham Street were asked to keep their doors and windows closed as the plume of smoke from the fire travelled in their direction.

UK Power Networks said it had received 12 reports of power cuts in area.

A statement on its website said: “We had to turn off power in your area so our engineers could safely carry out emergency repairs to the network.”

A post on the Nutshells Tea Room Facebook on Saturday evening said: “The whole of the Nutshells building was sadly lost to the blaze.

“At the time of writing, it sadly looks like the remaining structure is not safe and will have to be demolished. Emergency services will continue to monitor the building overnight.

“Understandably, Nutshells will be closed for the foreseeable future, while we try to assess the damage and rebuild from this.

“Thank you all for your kind comments and thoughts and a special thank you to the emergency services who have spent all day tackling the blaze.”

The electricity company said its engineers were trying to work out how long it would take to switch people’s power back on.