A fire service have revealed the cause of a blaze that ripped through a cafe on a high street a year since it happened.
The Gorge Cafe on South Street, Dorchester was completely destroyed and neighbouring buildings were damaged on 9 December 2024.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service said: “The fire report states the most probable cause of the fire was a fault with an electrical item.”
The building contractors have removed the debris and rubble by hand and are working to reinstate the building next door.
The fire tore through the Grade II listed terraced building in South Street, where novelist Thomas Hardy trained as an architect.
Along with the cafe one building to its left and two to its right were damaged by the heat from the fire and street bins were left melted.
The building collapsed further several weeks after the fire and the street was sealed off amid safety concerns.
In April part of the scaffolding was removed to allow for the high street, that had been shut since the incident, to reopen.
Faber and Jordan, who are reinstating the building, said that a small amount of asbestos was found in the wall that the Gorge Cafe and the building next door shared.
“This remains securely contained under rubble at basement level, poses no risk in its current state, and will be carefully removed by licensed specialists before reconstruction”
The company have been working to make the building safe and restore the fire-damaged properties either side on South Street for nine months.
“We continue to work closely with the loss adjusters, clients, structural engineers, designers, and licensed contractors to coordinate the next stages.
“At No. 38, works have now moved firmly into the reinstatement phase, with the structure secured and reconstruction underway.
“The remainder of the site remains complex, and safety on site remains paramount as we work diligently toward the timely reinstatement of these High Street buildings.”
