Jamie Oliver's 'fire-based' restaurant Barbecoa evacuated after blaze

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/24/jamie-oliver-restaurant-barbecoo-evacuated-blaze

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Around 150 people have been evacuated from a shopping centre after a fire at Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa restaurant in London.

Four fire engines and more than 20 firefighters tackled the blaze at the eaterie near St Paul's Cathedral, which bills itself on its website as "a celebration of fire-based cooking".

Part of the ducting, in the first-floor restaurant's extraction system, had caught light and was put out by around 12.30pm, a London Fire Brigade spokesman said.

The cause of the blaze in New Change Passage, on Cheapside in the City of London, to which firefighters were called shortly before 11am, is being investigated.

London Fire Brigade tweeted: "Around 150 were evacuated from a nearby shopping centre before we arrived. All were uninjured."

There are no reports of any other injuries.

Staff manning the restaurant's reservation telephone line this lunchtime were telling callers it was shut for 24 hours for "operational reasons".

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