News / fire
Restaurant forced to temporarily close after fire
A restaurant was forced to temporarily close on Saturday evening after a customer allegedly set toilet rolls on fire while in the loo.
The smoke from the toilet at Bombil on East Street then triggered the fire alarm, forcing customers and employees to evacuate the building.
Fumes of heavy smoke were seen erupting from the Indian restaurant with fire crews present on the scene until early hours on Sunday morning.
Bombil open on East Street in September 2024 – photo: Karen Johnson
A member of the Bombil team told Bristol24/7 they believed the action was “intentionally planned” by the suspects to escape paying for their meals.
They said: “Some customer burnt tissue papers in the toilet that triggered the alarm.
“It was a full house on Saturday night, and most customers were kind enough to offer to pay for their bill, but we didn’t accept it because customers were just halfway through their food.
“We have submitted CCTV footage to the police on Sunday.”
A cusomter allegedy set fire to toilet rolls while inside which is believed to have started the fire – photo: Bombil
Bombil opened on the high street in Bedminster in 2024, and is from the same team behind Nutmeg, Nutmeg Street Kitchen, Kal Dosa and Nadu.
Calling it a “bad night” for their restaurant in a video on Instagram, co-owner of the group of restaurants, Raja Naidu said: “We had lovely customers come in and had beautiful food, and the restaurant was completely packed.
“And then suddenly, some blast of smoke comes out of the men’s toilet. Some random idiot wanted to destroy the business, went downstairs, locked the cubicle and started the fire.”
Naidu said the restaurant was open as usual from Sunday and asked anybody who had not visited the restaurant yet to use this as a chance to support the business.
CanCan Pizza, whose restaurant is only a few doors down, kindly accommodated staff members from Bombil in their premises, offering them pizzas and drinks.
An investigation into the incident has been launched, with Avon Fire and Rescue yet to formally confirm the cause of the fire.
A spokesperson from Avon Fire and Rescue said: “We went to a fire on East Street in Bedminster on Saturday night. We had heavy smoke visible on arrival. There was a fire in the basement.
“We had four fire engines in attendance there to deal with the fire.”
Main photo: Bombil
Read next:
- New restaurant brings the taste of Bombay to Bristol
- Kal Dosa, Gloucester Road: ‘Not your average Indian’ – restaurant review
- Nutmeg Street Kitchen, St Augustine’s Parade: ‘I can live on their biryani every day’ – restaurant review
- My Bristol Recipes: Bombil’s Goan fish curry
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