Camden canal market fire

[karohemd]

Looking at the news footage of those huge flames and considering how busy the area is, especially on a Saturday night, it seems a miracle that apparently nobody was hurt. A big relief.
On the downside, it's very likely that all those small canal market stalls/businesses that got hit will most likely be ruined.
There have been no attempts to explain the cause of the fire yet (eye witnesses reported a loud bang which could be anything from an accidental to a deliberate explosion) but the cynic in me wouldn't be surprised if it was deliberate. There have been a  lot of plans to completely redevelop the area and drive out the last few elements of what makes Camden special.

Comments

[ginasketch.livejournal.com]

There have been a lot of plans to completely redevelop the area and drive out the last few elements of what makes Camden special.

I'm suspicious too. And I don't usually go for what might be termed "conspiracy theories."

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

I have never understood why "You see those tourists? They come here for this" is so hard to understand. Had it been the Stables, I would be really suspicious instead of my current state of being mildly so.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* not to mention people like you and me and the majority of our Uk based friends lists who regularly go there to shop, eat, drink and club.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Indeed. If what I read is correct, and seeing how busy it usually is, I wouldn't be at all surprised, 300'000 shoppers per day go to Camden High St and it's markets.

So any plans to redevelop the area are staggering.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't astonish me if it was a gas cylinder explosion, lots of stallholders use them and a leak could take a while to ignite.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* Something like that is most likely.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

It is very sad, and yes, I thought much the same thing about arson. Though I have to admit, looking back now, it seems to be a very very dangerous situation for a fire. Hundreds of stalls full of flammable clothing touching each other or joined by plastic sheeting. And as mentioned abaove, if stallholders have little gas powered fires for heating I'm surprised it has not happened before and it is a miracle nobody has been injured, let alone killed.

[vilenspotens.livejournal.com]

I would have been more suspicious if it had been the Ballroom...

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I don't believe sabotage in this case. Any pro-redevelopment saboteur would necessarily be hired by the establishment. Happy to put people out of business unethically? Maybe. Happy to kill lots of innocent people? No, I don't believe it.

Compare with Brighton's West Pier fire which suspiciously started not when the pier was busy, but when it was really quiet. (The conspiracy theory there being that the planned redevelopment project was a threat to the monopoly currently held by Palace Pier.)

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Agreed. If it was corporate arson I very much suspect something would have happened late at night, not 7pm on a Saturday evening. Arson is one thing...mass murder is another.

From what I have heard, witnesses reported an explosion coming from the car maintenance garages adjacent to the market.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Oh, entirely.

And as you say above, it's a tightly packed area of stalls and all kinds of flammable materials so it probably just needed that little spark to go wooosh.

However, there is no question that the shop/stall holders who are affected will be pretty much ruined and a number of buildings have been destroyed so the developers will get a step in.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think you are right. The same thing happened with the Corn Exchange in Manchester after the bomb, it went from an Alt market to a flagship store upmarket mall. And it's now half empty with a massive turnover of units.