STAFF at Hatch Marquee Hire are fighting back after their business was nearly destroyed by a fire on Saturday.

The barn in Hatch, near Loddiswell, where they store all their marquees, equipment, furniture, lighting and electrics, caught fire at around 4.30am on Saturday morning.

Fire crews from Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Dartmouth, Modbury, Totnes and Plymstock battled the fire for more than five hours but the barn was left gutted.

Charlie Cust, co-owner, said: ‘Its completely catastrophic. Life was very good last week, we’d just ordered lots of new stock, we had lots of people employed for the summer, and we’ve had to call them and tell them that there isn’t a job for them at the moment.’

Charlie, who has worked for Hatch Marquee Hire for many years and bought the business two years ago with Jon Green, said that they had six weddings booked in for this week and they now hope to be able to do two.

‘We’ve made real progress since Saturday’, said Jon, ‘its tiny steps and little victories at the moment.’

‘Everything we do is bespoke’, said Charlie, ‘so its not a case of just going out and buying new stock, it takes weeks to make the parts we need.’

The team are determined to fight back, taking each day as it comes and working hard to keep customers informed.

‘Our priority at the moment is to call all our customers and to prioritise helping our clients. Our core business is weddings so it is very difficult for our clients as well at this time. We are in contact with other marquee companies and suppliers who are also stepping in to help’ said Jon.

The team would like to thank their clients, ex-clients, suppliers and competitors for all the kind words of support and the assistance they have offered.

Insurers and the forensic team are expected on site today, to try and establish the cause of the fire, which is expected to be an electrical fault but is still unknown.

Photos from Kingsbridge Fire Station