Hanover Road fish and chip shop fire '“ here's what might have caused it

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service said the blaze, which broke out on Friday afternoon, was caused by an electrical fault.

However, owner Will Miller thinks that this was related to the electrical works that were carried out on Hanover Road last month.

A spokesperson from Northern Powergrid, the region’s electricity network operator, said: “On Friday (2 Nov) we were asked to attend a fire at Hanover Fish and Chip shop. Our engineer isolated supplies so the emergency services could extinguish the fire and also carried out initial safety checks which indicated that our network was operating as it should.

“Following contact from the shop owner regarding our network and the recent installation of new cables in the local area, we’re preparing to install voltage monitoring equipment on the section of network serving the shop. This will capture data regarding power flowing through our underground cables at different times of the day so we can demonstrate how our network is operating and whether there were any other potential causes for the fire within the property.

“Once our network tests are complete we will contact our customer directly to advise them of our findings.”

On Friday, Scarborough and Filey appliances responded to the incident shortly after 3.30pm. The road was closed on both sides.

An eye-witness described windows being smashed and smoke coming out. They said the inside of the premises looked "gutted”.

Earlier that day the fish and chip shop had been presented with a certificate for winning second place in The Scarborough News’ Chip Shop of the Year competition.

Mr Miller said: “I had been in the shop an hour and a half before to receive the award. I left for lunch and then I got a call. It was devastating to see the flames, not just for my family but for the people that work there. I employed five staff. Unfortunately we’ll have to look for a new job now.”

Although extensive damage was caused to the frying range and ground floor of the building, firefighters put out the fire in just over half an hour.

Mr Miller added: “We would like to thank the firefighters and all involved who put out the fire as quickly as possible before anybody got hurt or the fire spread. We would also like to thank all of our loyal customers and everybody who has offered to help in any way, the support we have received is fantastic and we are very grateful to everybody.”

The Scarborough News will arrange a second presentation to award a new certificate to the shop.

Hanover road: the fire in pictures, and dramatic video

Video: devastating fire at Hanover Road fish and chip shop, Scarborough