About 45 volunteer firefighters from Queenstown, Arrowtown and Frankton spent hours bringing the fire under control after a private fire alarm was activated about 7am on Sunday.
At the time, Queenstown chief fire officer Terry O’Connell said the fire had started in the kitchen, travelled up the ducts and into the roof space, which proved difficult to access to extinguish.
The Speight’s Ale House building, along with the building behind it — home to Brazz — and a building above it, comprising some residential apartments and office spaces, including for Destination Queenstown, is owned by former mayor Warren Cooper and his wife, Lorraine.
Mrs Cooper told the Otago Daily Times people in the residential apartments were told by Fire and Emergency New Zealand to find alternative accommodation on Sunday evening, "but after they had found alternative accommodation, they said they could stay".
She believed there was quite a strong smell of smoke in neighbouring apartments and offices, but said APL Property, which is housed in the building above Speight’s, had organised commercial cleaners.
"I feel so sad [for him], he’s had such a bad run for the last couple of years and now for this to happen, he didn’t need that.
"Everybody’s a bit sad about the bar and the restaurant — it’ll be a little while before it can [open] again, but it will."
Mr Frew saw the damage for the first time yesterday and told the Otago Daily Times the interior of the building was "a shambles" — it was likely the building would have to be gutted and rebuilt, which would take months.
