A POPULAR pub and restaurant has been forced to close for the day after a fire in the kitchen.

Staff were cooking in the kitchen at The Poachers at Metal Bridge, near Durham, this morning when one of the main fryers caught fire.

They were able to deal with the incident themselves using an extinguisher but have had to call time on the restaurant until the fryer can be replaced.

Dale Martindale, whose family own the pub, said: “It wasn’t a major fire, nobody was hurt, I think we’ve just been so busy that the fryer gave up on us.

“We will be closed until we can get the new equipment delivered and installed, and apologise for any inconvenience.

“We don’t have a time yet but are aiming to be back up and running as soon as we can, hopefully by tomorrow.”

 

 

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