Bristol Brewhouse And Kitchen fined over fire safety

There was a small chimney fire at the premises on 27 October 2018

A micro-brewery and pub chain has been fined £132,000 after failing to meet fire safety regulations.

Avon Fire and Rescue brought a case against the Brewhouse And Kitchen in Redland, Bristol after a small chimney fire broke out in 2018 as a result of failing to meet fire safety rules.

The company admitted four fire safety breaches at a hearing on Wednesday at Bristol Magistrates Court.

It said since the chimney fire it had taken on "significant learning".

The fire broke out on 27 October 2018.

The four breaches of the Fire Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 included:

• Failure to take general fire precautions

• Failure to ensure adequate fire safety arrangements

• Failure to ensure adequate fire detection and fire-fighting equipment

• Failure to ensure adequate emergency escape routes and exits

The court issued a fine of £120,000 and £12,226 in costs with a £110 victim surcharge.

Early plea entered

Avon Fire and Rescue's head of fire safety Karl Venn said: "While we will always seek to work with business owners to maintain fire safety standards in premises we won't hesitate to prosecute where necessary.

"I would like to commend Brewhouse & Kitchen for accepting responsibility and entering an early plea in this case which assisted in bringing it to an early resolution."

A spokesman for the pub chain said it accepted full responsibility and after the fire "it was made clear to the company that certain important actions related to a fire risk assessment in 2016 had not been dealt with correctly in relation to the upper floor non-trading areas".

Since then it said it had changed its operations team, and introduced new systems and processes and the "the company has taken significant learning from this matter".