A Hotel near Wincanton that suffered a devastating fire which tore through its kitchen in the dead of night could welcome its first guests by the end of the month.

Owner of Holbrook House John McGinley revealed work was on-going but he was hopeful the hotel would be open for business in a couple of weeks.

He said: “Everything is coming along fine. We are still waiting on a final decision from our insurers but our target is to have the hotel open by the end of January.”

The fire, which destroyed the Georgian hotel’s kitchen, began in the early hours of Saturday, January 4. Luckily hotel staff Charles Lycka and Callum Cunningham were on site and raised the alarm before battling the intense heat and falling roof tiles to isolate the gas supply.

Nine fire crews were brought in to bring the blaze under control. The hotel did not have any guests staying due to a planned closure.

Mr McGinley revealed a portable kitchen had been sourced but the pressure was on as the hotel is due to host a couple of weddings in February. He said he was confident the hotel would be at its best in time.

He said: “People have shown a lot of support and our health club, which remains open and unaffected by the fire, has been very busy.”

Members of the community have extended their best wishes to Mr McGinley and his team for a speedy comeback.

Chris Ricketts, managing director at The Fine Food Company said: “We were all very shocked and saddened to hear about the terrible fire at Holbrook House. We hope that the clear up operation is as stress free as possible and look forward to seeing, what is such a beautiful hotel, back to normal as soon as possible.”

Chairman of Wincanton Businesses Together John Smith, said: “We hope everything gets resolved quickly for the hotel staff and they can get back to their normal routine again.

“The hotel has got such an interesting history and I remember attending many dinners there. We hope to see Holbrook House go from strength to strength.”

King Arthur’s Community School head teacher Chris Beech also spoke of the staff and students’ sadness at learning of the fire.

He said: “Our staff had recently enjoyed their Christmas meal at Holbrook House and our year-11 students are already planning their leavers’ ball which is has been hosted by Holbrook for many years. We offer the staff our support as they go about redeveloping one of the most impressive venues in Somerset.”

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