Chip shop to fry another day after being battered by fire

Fish and Chips in Hemel Hempstead’s Lawn Lane was decimated by the blaze – caused by a deep fat fryer explosion – back in November last year.

The business had only just been relaunched by its current owners at the time of the accident. An advert placed in the Gazette’s sister paper the HeraldExpress a day before its opening in October said the shop had been ‘refurbished to an exemplary standard’.

One member of staff suffered minor burns in the blaze, which saw fire crews battling the flames for 20 minutes. The injured man will, however, be working at the renovated unit once it reopens from next week.

A spokesman for the business told the Gazette: “More than anything else, it was a real setback given the amount of work and money we had put in to set the shop up.

“The fire was an unfortunate accident, but it has made us more determined to get everything sorted and open again.

“We have put in a lot of effort to get it back up to a very good standard and we are determined to make things work.

“The staff member was fortunately not seriously hurt and he will be back working in the chip shop from next week – we are all looking forward to it.”

Fish and Chips reopens at 37 Lawn Lane, off the magic roundabout, on Monday, January 26.