Road Bay, Sandy Ground, has suffered an unfortunate double loss when a raging fire completely destroyed the popular Johnno’s and Dad’s Beach Bars/Restaurants in the early hours of Wednesday, July 11.
The fire, said to have started between 2.30 and 3:30 a.m., quickly engulfed both wooden buildings and began spreading to nearby houses to the east and north of the area.
Officers from the airport-based Anguilla Fire and Rescue Services, aided by a number of privately-owned and operated water trucks, were able to stop the spread of the swift-moving conflagration.
Large numbers of persons, from Sandy Ground and various other areas of Anguilla, stood aghast as the fire, fanned by a brisk southerly wind, consumed the buildings, reducing them to rubble in the dawn of the day.
Both bars/restaurants were an asset to the culinary and entertainment life of Anguilla, providing a popular service to tourists and locals alike in a fun-filled and relaxing atmosphere. Sundays and national holidays, like the August week, and occasions such as boat-racing and the Anguilla Summer Festival and Beach Party, were great times of patronage at the locally-owned sea-side informal properties.
Contingents of the Royal Anguilla Police Force were on hand to prevent persons from venturing too close to the smoke and blaze of the burning buildings, while at the same time carrying out their investigations into the cause of the fire.
Johnno’s Beach Bar & Restaurant has been in service since in 1985, built on a quarter-acre of beach land leased from Mr. Seymour Hodge. Dad’s Bar & Restaurant has been in operation for the past five years.
