'We're open as normal' says hotel after blaze at historic Art Deco hotel between Northampton and Wellingborough

Owners say the Aviator Hotel is 'open for business' despite a blaze severely damaging part of the popular restaurant, conference and wedding venue late on Thursday night (March 3).

Nobody was injured but hotel guests and staff had to be evacuated after the fire broke out just before midnight.

The hotel's owner Michael Bletsoe-Brown paid tribute to up to 40 firefighters who battled to contain damage to a section of the historic building at Sywell Aerodrome.

Mr Bledsoe-Brown said: "The fire was contained to the outer edge of the building and all residents staying were evacuated safely and we were able to relocate them to other hotels locally.

"The damage was limited to a small area of the building on the top floor and we hope to have all bedrooms back online as soon as possible.

"The Aviator bar and restaurant were unaffected and will be open as normal. The hotel building and the majority of the bedrooms are still available as normal.

"I would like to thank the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue service for the fantastic job they did in containing the fire, and to all of our staff that performed extremely well under pressure in difficult circumstances."

The Aviator is a unique hotel with 59 bedrooms set in a historic 1930s Art Deco building which was once a clubhouse and officers' mess, located on the edge of the airfield.

It also features a collection of original Sywell memorabilia from its early aviation days.

Crews for Northampton, Wellingborough, Moulton, Earls Barton and Corby spent around seven hours tackling the blaze.

Fire investigators are on site today (Friday) carrying out inspections in a bid to determine how the first started.