A LARGE fire in Richmond at the weekend has reignited calls for CCTV cameras to be reinstated in the town.

The calls come as an 18-year-old was denied bail after appearing in court accused of starting the fire which caused more than £100,000 worth of damage.

Thomas Stephenson, from The Galleries, in Richmond, appeared at Northallerton Magistrates' Court on Monday faced with a single charge of arson.

The court heard the fire began in a wheelie bin outside the Red Cross charity shop.

It spread causing damage to 2 Rosemary Street, 4 Rosemary Street and 6 Rosemary Street, along with property numbers 18, 20, 22 and 24 on Finkle Street.

Mr Stephenson did not enter a plea and the case was transferred to crown court.

The defendant, dressed in a blue t-shirt and shorts, held his hands over his mouth and cried out and sobbed when the magistrate announced that bail was refused.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at Teesside Crown Court on June 22.

Fire crews from across North Yorkshire and the North-East attended the incident, discovered shortly before 5.15am on Saturday morning, spending ten hours extinguishing the blaze.

An extensive clean-up operation in the market town is now underway, as business and property-owners survey the damage.

Some of the commercial premises suffering extensive damaged included the Red Cross charity shop, Urban Spa and Beauty, Tasty Macs sandwich shop and the Oxfam shop.

The MacKenzie Thorpe Arthaus Gallery, on fire-hit Finkle Street reopened for business on Monday.

Jess Wilson, from the gallery, said they luckily had not suffered any damage.

“We’re on the opposite side of the road, so other than being closed at the weekend, we have been unaffected by the fire. But it’s such a shame to see such a beautiful building gone,” she said.

Shaun Orton is landlord at the Unicorn Inn, which opened its doors to those affected by the fire at the weekend and provided hot drinks to fire crews at the scene.

He said the blaze had had a big impact on the town, with many businesses having to close on Saturday when streets were cordoned off around the fire.

Mr Orton said Richmond Pub Watch had already launched a campaign to get CCTV reinstated in the town centre.

A petition recently launched by the landlords’ group to get camera surveillance returned, has now been signed by nearly 1,000 residents after being launched about one month ago.

The drive was prompted by the recent death of Andrew Jackson, who suffered fatal injuries in an attack in Richmond town centre.

Mr Orton said: “There can’t be many towns without CCTV in the centre. There was a break-in at the Bishop Blaize pub last week; we need to get those cameras back.”