A year on from the significant fire incident in Dorchester, the cause of the blaze that devastated a high-street café has now been confirmed.

The fire, which occurred on 9 December 2024, resulted in the complete destruction of The Gorge Café on South Street and caused heat damage to several neighbouring properties. Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that “the most probable cause of the fire was a fault involving an electrical item,” as outlined in the official fire investigation report.

Contractors have since undertaken the complex task of removing debris by hand due to the nature of the structure, and work is ongoing to reinstate the adjacent building. The incident affected a Grade II listed terraced property with notable historic significance, including its connection to novelist Thomas Hardy, who trained there as an architect.

In addition to the café itself, one property to the left and two to the right sustained thermal damage, and several street-level waste bins were melted by the intensity of the heat. Several weeks after the initial incident, sections of the building suffered further collapse, prompting road closures to ensure public safety.

By April, partial removal of scaffolding enabled the reopening of the high street, which had remained closed since the fire.

Faber and Jordan, who are reinstating the building, said that a small amount of asbestos was found in the wall that the Gorge Cafe and the building next door shared.

"This remains securely contained under rubble at basement level, poses no risk in its current state, and will be carefully removed by licensed specialists before reconstruction"

The company have been working to make the building safe and restore the fire-damaged properties either side on South Street for nine months.

"We continue to work closely with the loss adjusters, clients, structural engineers, designers, and licensed contractors to coordinate the next stages.

"At No. 38, works have now moved firmly into the reinstatement phase, with the structure secured and reconstruction underway.

"The remainder of the site remains complex, and safety on site remains paramount as we work diligently toward the timely reinstatement of these High Street buildings."