We will open again, say couple who ran Octopus
The owners of Octopus have said the restaurant will return after it was destroyed by a large fire in the early hours of Saturday.
Fifteen crew members from the Fire & Rescue Service tackled the blaze, which began at about 4am and continued to burn for most of the day.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, however people living nearby were advised to keep windows and doors of their properties closed due to the large amounts of smoke from the blaze.
‘We are both absolutely devastated but realise the important thing is nobody was hurt,’ said co-owners Delphine Pesrin-Auder and Mickael Pesrin in a statement on Facebook.
‘We will of course be closed for quite some time, but... we will be back.’
The cause of the fire remains unknown but police were ruling nothing out when they spoke to media on Saturday morning.
South Esplanade and Le Val Des Terres were closed to motorists for most of Saturday, with police and Civil Protection volunteers directing traffic away from the area.
All roads in the area, including La Vallette – which runs past the restaurant – had reopened by yesterday morning.
Fire incident commander Danny Joyce told a media briefing that fire crews tried to enter the building when they arrived on the scene, but the fire was already deep-seated.
‘Therefore we could not stay in that building for very long and we had to withdraw. Our tactics from then on were to fight the fire from outside.’
Police duty inspector Adam Miller said that all lines of enquiry relating to the cause of the fire were open at this stage.
‘I would therefore ask that if anyone saw anything suspicious or unusual in the early hours of Saturday morning around the area at La Vallette to contact us.’
The owners of the restaurant thanked the police, fire and civil protection ‘who have worked so hard to help us’.
‘Also thanks to our wonderful staff who are as upset as we are, and to all our valued customers, friends, suppliers, many of whom have already sent us supportive messages, flowers, and cards.’
