Fire destroys Buxton bakery

Feb 28, 2017 News

Proprietor blames 23-year-old land dispute

A fire, suspected to be arson, destroyed a well known bakery at Lot 33 Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD) around 01:00hrs yesterday.

Owner of the burnt bakery, Wesley Benjamin (inset)

A little over 30 employees were left jobless as a result of the blaze which was reportedly started in an office of Benjamin’s Bakery, said to be one of the oldest bakeries around.
Owner for the bakery shop, Wesley Benjamin, suspects that the fire might have been as a result of an ongoing land dispute which has been in the court for 23 years.
“I don’t want to blame anyone, but only January the guy (second party in the court matter) put his friend to call me and say that the matter can be easily solved out of the court, but I told them to call the people who I buy the land from,” Benjamin recalled.
He explained that he was at his second bakery shop in Berbice when he was informed that his Buxton property was on fire.
“When I come, the place was already burnt and there was nothing I could have done,” Benjamin said.
At the time of the fire, the bakery was out-of-order since the building was under construction.
Kaieteur News was informed that customers in Buxton were being supplied with bread from the bakery’s second outlet, and this will continue until other arrangements are made.
“Where the fire started, I had nothing there that could have caused the fire. Electrical appliances were turned off and there was no baking going on there,” Benjamin noted.
He said that while the fire has been a major setback, he will try to put things in place so that work can commence within the next two months.
“The most important thing was saved and that is the ovens,” the baker said while adding that his losses would amount to close to $10M.

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