Firefighters called to Birmingham Balti Belt blaze
FIREFIGHTERS were called on to tackle a blaze which broke out at a restaurant in Birmingham’s Balti Belt early today.
They were alerted to The President, in Stratford Road, Sparkhill, after a passer-by could smell burning at about 6am.
Crews from Billesley, Hay Mills and Highgate kept the fire contained in one room on the ground floor but smoke had spread through the three-storey building, which was being refurbished.
No-one was inside at the time and the cause of the fire is due to be investigated.
Firefighter John Linford, from Billesley, said: “We found the fire early and tackled it easily.”
The landmark address was one of the first “destination” pubs in the Midlands and started life as a three-storey house, with a farmhouse, in 1740.
In the 1880s it was rebuilt, with twin towers as The Mermaid Hotel. These were destroyed by German bombers in World War Two.
