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“Devastating” fire at Specialized UK’s southwest London offices

It took firefighters four hours to get blaze under control at business park in Chessington

Specialized UK last night suffered what it describes as a “devastating effect” after fire broke out at its UK offices in south-west London.

Firefighters spent four hours getting the fire under control after being alerted to it at around 6.30pm, with eight appliances from the LFB supplemented by four from Surrey Fire & Rescue at the scene of the blaze in Barwell Business Park, Chessington, in the London Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.

In an email to road.cc, the US-based bicycle brand’s UK head of marketing, said: “Last night, we were notified that a fire had affected our UK headquarters in Chessington.

“Thankfully, no one was hurt, but we are sad to report that the fire has had a devastating effect to our offices.

“There will be some short-term changes to certain business operations, but the Specialized UK warehouse is located elsewhere, and riders should not be concerned.

“We thank our retailer partners for their patience and understanding at this difficult time,” she added.

Besides Specialized UK, two other cycling businesses have premises at the business park – Karbon Kinetics, owner of the GoCycle e-bike brand and which is just across the road from Specialized UK, and Canyon UK, around 150 metres or so further north at the site.

Barwell Business Park via Google Maps.PNG

Specialized’s logo, at the rear of its premises, can be seen in the centre of the picture in the tweet below from LFB.

Another tweet of drone images streamed to LFB’s control room includes a thermal image, which in comparison with satellite images from Google Maps suggests that the fire was centred on CORT Furniture, whose premises abut those of Specialized UK.

Barwell Business Park fire thermal image via LFB on Twitter
Specialized UK satellite image via Google Maps.PNG

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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