‘Major repair job’ needed after blaze at historic Market Drayton inn
A fire that ripped through a 17th Century Grade II listed coaching inn in the centre of Market Drayton will mean a "major repair job".
The Corbet Arms Inn, in High Street, which today hosts a Post Office and antiques centre but over the centuries served as an important meeting point, was hit by a fire last Wednesday evening.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the windows on the second and third floors, but the Post Office on the ground floor was largely unaffected and was able to reopen the following day.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and closed the High Street and Stafford Street.
The building had not been used as a hotel for years, and the ongoing renovation process would be delayed by the fire, said town mayor Councillor Roy Aldcroft.
He said he was shown around the upper floors this week and that repairing the grand ballroom would be a "major job".
"Shropshire Council conservation officers will be involved as well as various other people in order to assist with the Corbet Arms' renovation," he said.
"The fire service managed to get there very quickly, and without that rapid response the situation would have been much more serious. I think the response from Shropshire Fire and Rescue was spot on."
A spokesman for Market Drayton Fire Station said the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the blaze involved debris and scrap wood.
