The Hearth in Lewes to reopen after fire

04 February 2015 by Neil Gerrard

The Hearth restaurant in Lewes is set to reopen next week after an oven fire damaged the kitchen and also caused smoke damage to the restaurant.

The fire took hold on Thursday 29 January, and was discovered at around 7.30am by head baker Tamás Kerékgyártó.

Michael Hanson, the owner of the restaurant, said he would view the fire as an "opportunity, not a tragedy. It could have been much worse."

The fire, which was swiftly dealt with by the fire brigade after Kerékgyártó called the emergency services, destroyed the over surround and resulted in "significant" damage to the kitchen, as well as some smoke damage to the restaurant itself.

The Fire Service has now concluded its investigations into the incident.

Hanson said: "We could sit and mope, but the overwhelming amount of support we've received from the Lewes community, our landlord, businesses and individuals, has kept mine, and the teams, spirits up. We can't thank them enough. We've had everything from presents and cards, to offers to bring a mop down to assist with the clean-up.

"We're going to use the incident as a chance to improve the Hearth experience for everyone, and we'll be re-opening in a very novel manner in the next week."

The Hearth opened in 2012 in what used to be a greasy spoon café in Lewes bus station. It serves Neapolitan pizzas from a wood-fired oven, as well as home-made cakes, and bread baked in the falling heat of the oven.