THE boss of fire-ravaged Panacea bar in Alderley Edge has vowed the venue will swiftly rise from the ashes.

The London Road bar, formerly celebrity hangout Brasingamens, had only launched last week as a swanky new Panacea after an 18-month revamp at a cost of £3.2m.

But just after 5am yesterday, fire and police officers were called to the scene to tackle a fire engulfing the rear and upper floor of the building.

Officers were still on the scene in the Cheshire town last night and said the cause of the fire could take some weeks to establish.

However, a spokeswoman for Panacea said: "Our initial investigations reveal it was an accidental fire. Inquiries are underway to establish how that occured."

Bar boss Joe Akka is now faced with a lengthy clean-up operation to get the bar ready to reopen for the party-loving Cheshire Set once again.

Joe said in a statement yesterday: "Yes, it was obviously very unfortunate, especially as things were going very well.

"But the clean-up is going to start straight away.

"Any repairs are going to take place as soon as possible and we're going to be back up and running as soon as possible."

Those repairs may well be costly - only last week, bar insiders boasted that a sprawling staircase at the rear of the building, which has been worse hit by the fire, cost £80,000 alone to install.

A series of parties had been held to launch the venue last week and to show off to local VIPs the swanky interior created by renowned designer Bernard Carroll.

Bernard was out of town yesterday, but said he was devastated when he received news of the blaze.

He said: "I've not seen the extent of the damage, but it's just terrible to hear the news."

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said yesterday: "The cause of the fire has not yet been established and inquiries are still ongoing at the scene by the police and fire service."
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