Burning wood fell from a ground-floor oven, setting fire to the space between the basement and ground floor at the five-star hotel, which had been due to host a star-studded post-BAFTA Film Awards party on Sunday evening.
A fire that ripped through a luxury central London hotel popular with celebrities started accidentally from a pizza oven, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said.
Chiltern Firehouse which began when burning wood fell from the oven, “igniting the void between the basement and ground floor,” LFB said.
The five-star hotel in Marylebone, a repurposed former fire station, had been due to host a star-studded post-BAFTA Film Awards party on Sunday evening.
It spread via ducting, pipes, or tubes used to ventilate buildings, and damaged parts of the ground floor and half of the second floor and destroyed the third floor and roof of the four-storey hotel, London Fire Brigade said.
Assistant commissioner Paul McCourt said: “Crews worked incredibly hard for over eight hours in arduous conditions.
“Presented with a complex fire in a historically significant building, formerly Manchester Square Fire Station, firefighters successfully contained the fire, preventing it from spreading to neighbouring properties.”
Around 100 people were evacuated and there were no injuries as a result of the blaze, which started shortly before 3pm on Friday and was tackled by around 125 firefighters.