Fire at Castle Quay
07/02/2025
A section of the roof has been on fire
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service have been dealing with a fire at the Castle Quay Shopping Centre in Banbury. They were called at 3.50pm this afternoon (Friday).
Around that time reports appeared on social media saying the centre has been evacuated with the alarms going off.
Four fire appliances attended – two from Banbury, one from Hook Norton and one from Deddington. They were joined by a hydraulic platform from Oxford.
Online videos showed crews directing a water jet at the roof of the Lock 29 building. This is in the area where renovation work is currently underway ahead of Cherwell District Council’s relocation to the building.
A spokesperson for the council, which owns the centre, told Banbury FM: “We have been informed that a small fire is on a section of Castle Quay shopping centre roof.
“Fire crews are attending, and we have been told it is now out.
“As is standard practice and as a precaution, the centre has been evacuated and will reopen when it receives the all-clear from the fire service. Further details will follow in due course.”
A spokeperson for the fire service gave an update at 5.45pm saying crews had extinguished the fire and checked for potential spread.
They added: “The incident was quickly brought under control and although still on scene, we are scaling down our response and will be releasing fire appliances bit by bit as we are able to.”
The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
Its anticipated that the shopping centre will reopen in the morning as normal, but this will be confirmed on the Castle Quay website.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
