A new dad has been left devastated after his takeaway restaurant business burnt down over the weekend, just months after it opened.
Daniel Blackwood shelled out almost £60,000 of his life savings last year to open his takeaway restaurant business The Sea Shack in Hartlepool.
The shack threw open its doors to customers in November and had been cooking up a roaring trade over the past few months.
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But Daniel’s dreams went up in smoke over the weekend as his shack was found burnt out overnight on Friday (February 17).
Daniel, 35, who worked offshore for ten years while saving up to open his dream business, said: “I woke up on Saturday morning to a message from a girl saying it looked like the shack had been burnt down.
“You know when you think that you’re dreaming or something can’t be real. I thought it was some sort of joke.
“I told my partner Rebecca and she just started crying. We had our first baby together six weeks ago on Sunday.
“I went down, and it just looks like a burnt-out house, it’s just black. Inside is pretty much 100% damaged.”
The restaurant offers freshly-made dishes cooked over logs and coals including fired pork belly, handmade fishcakes, and cod cheek scampi.
Fire crews were called out to the shack on the Hartlepool Headland shortly before midnight on Friday (February 17). Cleveland Fire Brigade confirmed that investigations into the cause of the blaze are ongoing.
Mr Blackwood welcomed his first baby girl Arabella into the world just six weeks ago.
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He added: “The restaurant has been a dream of mine for years. I really love cooking and eating food. Some people get joy out of things like football, but I get joy out of knowing someone has enjoyed something I’ve made for them.
“People have been noticing what we’ve been doing, and we were starting to get a really good name for ourselves.
“We were doing money we expected to be making in the summer months over the winter.
“I am trying to keep positive because I know we are going to come back bigger and better.”
Daniel’s friend Mark launched a Go Fund Me campaign over the weekend to help his pal raise money to reopen the shack.
Since its launch it has raised more than £1,000, as of Monday (February 20) morning.
A spokesperson for Cleveland Fire Brigade added: “We were called on Friday February 17 at 23.53pm to a fire on the Headland in Hartlepool. One fire engine from Hartlepool was in attendance.
“The fire was extinguished and dampened down by crews. We left the scene at 00.58am on Saturday (February 18). Investigations are ongoing as per our usual procedure.”
To donate to the Go Fund Me fundraiser click here
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