FIRE IN CUBA STREET

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 104, 30 October 1933, Page 10

FIRE IN CUBA STREET

RESTAURANT GUTTED

GOOD WORK BY BRIGADE

Fire -which broke out in the early hours of this morning in a restaurant known as tho Marblo Bar, at 131 Cuba Street* did considerable damage to the interior. Tho alarm was given by Constable Boate at 4.2 a.m., and practically simultaneously ho shouted to aud; aroused the four occupants of the rooms above tho shop. They aivoko to find tho place full of smoke, and without having time to save anything, made their escape in their night attire on to the verandah of the Hotel Bristol next door. They were Joseph Arnerich, who is tho proprietor of the, Marble Bar, his wife and baby, and a man named Peter Lucas.

I The blazo apparently started in a rear corner of the front room of the Marble Bar. When the Fire Brigade arrived shortly after 4 o 'clock it had a good hold on the interior of the building, and the flames were showing through the roof. By that time the occupants had escaped, and the combined efforts of two engines from the Central Firo Station and one from Constable Street soon had the outbreak under control.

The building in which the fire occurred is a brick, and concrete one, of two storeys, and containing three shops. Tho northern one is the Marble Bar and the .other two are occupied by Nash's Leather Arcade, which suffered no damage, although it would have had the fire been uncontrolled for many more minutes. On either side of tho building tho Hotel Bristol rises to a height of three storeys, the two separate blocks being connected by a passageway on the first floor level, above the rear of the Mart>le Bar and the Leather Arcade, -which is of only one storey. HOTEL GUESTS SUFFER. Three of the guests in the northern wing of the Hotel Bristol, almost above the seat of the fire, were driven from their rooms by fire, smoke, and water, but at no time were they in any danger. Had the wind been strong from the south, instead of being only a slight breeze, the hotel premises might have suffered more, but there are adequate means of escape. Of the three who were compelled to vacate their rooms, one gentleman lost all his possessions, one lady lost a little, and another lady lost nothing. There wero about 25 people sleeping in the wing, and they assisted in providing the Arnerich family with clothing and shelter. The comparatively slight damago to the hotel furnishings is covered by insurance. TRIBUTE TO FIRE BRIGADE. "The Firo Brigade were marvellous, there's no doubt about it," said Miss A. Edge, tho proprietress of the Hotel Bristol, to a "Post" reporter. "We would have suffered very heavily if they had not stood up to the fire so well."

Both the Hotel Bristol and tho building where the fire started are owned by Messrs. G. London and F. London, of Pctonc. They have both buildings adequately insured in the State Fire Office. Arnerich had a policy for £2160 in the Norwich Union office on the furniture, .fittings, and stock in the Marble Bar. Two of the, three rooms on tho ground floor were completely gutted, as were also the threo upstairs rooms. At daylight this morning tho place presented a desolate picture. In what was once tho Marblo Bar the charred remnants of a couple of dozen tables, with their chairs, a valuable console wireless set, and a refrigerator^ were liberally splashed with water dripping from the rooms above, where tho ruin was oven worse, and the marvel was that the sleepers wero able to escape without injury. At the front of tho Marble Bar a sweet stall owned by Peter Blades was damaged by smoke and water as much as by fire.