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Search is on for new club premises after fire tragedy. The owners of Andover Country Bumpkin, which was tragically gutted by fire at the weekend, have already begun the search for a new home for the club.
(Image reproduced by kind permission of The Andover Advertiser)
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Mr Patrick Langdown, son of the owner who is presently holidaying in Spain, this week said,

“We will be continuing business as usual as soon as we can. There is nothing at all for the young people of Andover, so there is an obvious need.
We have already begun looking for new premises or a replacement site but we don’t yet know whether it will be a temporary measure. We will be looking either to buy or lease on a short-term basis.

We are open to any reasonable suggestions and we have even looked at the possibility of a factory unit, but there would be a lot of problems getting a change-of-use.
We want something in the central Andover. If we lease somewhere we could well redevelop the original site!

Test Valley Council confirmed that the family had approached them and a spokesman said they had given them certain advice. He said that should they find suitable premises the council would be prepared to negotiate because at the moment they have nowhere available which was comparable size with the Bumpkin.

Cllr Dave Roberts said he felt there was a desperate need for some thing like the Country Bumpkin for the sake of the young people in the town and he added that he hoped councillors would help the owners in their search for temporary premises.

People living in flats at Rack Close and nearby houses were awakened in the early hours of Sunday morning by the sound of the savage blaze, which was first spotted at around 5.10am. The noise of the asbestos exploding inside the building was so loud that at times people living as far away as ladies walk were awaken by what they described as a sound like rapid gun fire.

Only hours before the fire was spotted hundreds of young people had been in the club and it is believed that the staff were on the premises as late as 3am. A spokesman for the fire services said they do not know what caused the blaze and they are still investigating.

(The above article appeared on the front page of the Andover Advertiser on the 14th October 1983 - By Sarah Last)

17.03.2008. 12:13

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