News / Mid Brae Inn to reopen soon
THE OWNERS of the fire damaged Mid Brae Inn have vowed to reopen the bar as quickly as they can after the popular restaurant and pub was extensively scorched at the weekend.
The blaze, caused by an electrical fault in a gas boiler, completely destroyed the kitchen while smoke and heat damaged the rest of the building.
A much greater tragedy was avoided through the quick thinking of inter island pilot Hughie Manson, who managed to turn off the gas supply after driving past the burning building on Saturday morning.
Fire fighters from Brae, Hillswick and Lerwick arrived at the scene shortly afterwards after being alerted by another man who saw smoke on his way to work at Scatsta airport just before 8am.
It took 17 fire fighters using hose reel jets and breathing apparatus almost two hours to extinguish the blaze.
Joint owner Diane Davies said she was waiting for their insurance company to assess the damage.
Yet as the only damage to the bar area was a layer of black soot covering everything, she hopes to reopen that part of the building within weeks rather than months.
The restaurant will have to stay closed for a longer as the kitchen will have to be completely rebuilt.
“I feel absolutely gutted and devastated,” Ms Davies said on Tuesday, quickly adding that she was grateful that no one had been injured.
She said she felt “humbled” by the many messages of support she has had from local people during the last three days. On Saturday alone she received almost 150 text messages.
“We are in limbo just now, but once the bar is open again we will at least be operating again. I also have to think about the staff,” she said. The pub/restaurant employs six people full-time and around 10 part-time.
The Mid Brae Inn is jointly owned by Ms Davies and Andrea Manson, from Hillswick. They bought the business back in August 1992 and now hope to be fully back in business for their 20th anniversary on 3 August.
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