A FIRE caused by combusting tea-towels ravaged the kitchen of a Chedworth pub, resulting in “thousands” of pounds worth of damage just 11 months after it re-opened.

A handyman at The Seven Tuns Inn arrived at work last Wednesday (April 27) morning to find the kitchen of the popular Cotswold pub had been burnt out during the night, though no-one was inside at the time of the fire.

Sam Morgan, front of house manager, said: “The tea towels combusted having been taken out of the tumble drier the previous day and folded. Oil they use in the kitchen never completely washes off the towels and unfortunately once they were folded, heat built up until they were too hot and combusted.”

Mr Morgan, who estimated the damage done could cost "thousands" to put right, said the fire alarms went off but due to the pub’s tucked away location and because the type of combustion meant there was no flame, only "smoke and heat" were produced so the fire brigade was not called until the following day and the fire burned throughout the night.

The pub had been locked up at 11.30pm on Wednesday as normal and the handyman arrived at 9.30am on Thursday (28), when the fire brigade was called and reportedly two investigators came at separate times, both agreeing on the cause of the fire, according to Mr Morgan.

“We hadn’t heard that that could happen, and I’ve never experienced it,” he said. “But since then, I’ve looked into it and found oddly it happened to a couple of places in Brighton in the same week as us.”

The pub was re-opened by new landlady Liz Henty and her team last May having been closed for two years and Mr Morgan admitted the fire was a major setback, though the pub remains open with only the kitchen suffering damage.

“The fire was completely contained in the kitchen. The fire doors did their job,” he said, but could put no timescale on when refurbishment work will be undertaken. “We can’t cook, can’t do anything [in the kitchen].”

The pub will be doing BBQs over the weekend to keep hungry patrons happy.