Aylsham Garden Centre Remains Closed After Early-Morning Fire Caused Significant Smoke Damage
Aylsham Garden Centre will stay closed following a fire that left the site without electricity and caused "significant smoke damage, " management confirmed. The blaze was tackled early on Monday, and staff say no one was hurt, but substantial restoration work is underway before customers can be welcomed back.
Aylsham site: what happened and immediate impacts
The incident began at 6: 53am ET on Monday, February 16, when fire crews from two nearby stations attended the scene. Crews spent nearly an hour dealing with the blaze. As a result of the fire, the garden centre has been left without electricity and teams have identified extensive smoke contamination, particularly around staff and till areas. Staff have emphasised that everyone is safe and that there were no injuries.
Safety checks, cleaning and phased reopening plan
Management confirmed the building has been assessed as structurally safe and that professional cleaning teams are now working to restore affected areas. The garden centre will remain closed until at least the end of next week while restoration and safety sign-offs take place. The current plan is to reopen in stages: the restaurant is expected to reopen first, followed by the rest of the garden centre once further areas have been cleaned and signed off.
Operational disruption and community response
Operations are interrupted not only by smoke damage but also by the loss of electricity, which has forced immediate closures for customer-facing services. A spokesman for the garden centre said they will be closed to customers for the coming days while work continues. Staff have been working behind the scenes to prepare for reopening and will share updates as restoration progresses. The centre also acknowledged the volume of supportive messages received from the community, describing that support as meaningful for the family-run team.
Fire crews’ prompt attendance and the subsequent structural assessment have allowed management to move quickly into the cleanup phase. While timelines remain contingent on the pace of professional cleaning and safety inspections, the centre’s staged approach to reopening aims to restore some services as soon as individual areas are safe and operational.
The garden centre will provide further information about reopening dates and the phased return of services as work continues.
