By Aalia Khan
Smorgasbord coffee bar became subject to an arson attack last night at around 8pm. The coffee bar was in the middle of refurbishing the entire shop and had planned a re-opening for this Friday. However last night the coffee shop caught ablaze to a terrible fire which has caused major damage to the outside of the shop.
The owner Arif Mehmood explains that he was alerted at 8:30pm that there had been a break in at the coffee bar, he arranged for his brother to attend and check what had happened as he lives further away. Upon arrival his brother caught site of the destruction that had occurred due to a major fire and informed Arif to make his way there immediately.
The fire brigade had arrived prior to Arif’s arrival and put out the fire. Arif then had a look at their CCTV cameras to see that at 8:23pm a fire was set to the coffee bar, which caused a lot of damage to the outside of the shop but Arif says “Thankfully there wasn’t much damage on the inside, so everything was on the outside.”
The refurbishing of the shop was almost complete however this destruction has now set the coffee bar back financially as well as the timing of the re-opening. Arif says the entire shop will need to be re-done again including plastering, painting and decorating. 
According to Arif there isn’t a motive for anyone to carry out such a horrific act, he believes it was simply a “Senseless act of vandalism and arson.”
Arif commended the fire fighters for arriving within ten minutes of the fire setting ablaze and putting it out almost immediately. The coffee shop will now look to re-open within the next few weeks.
