Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A WANGARATTA cafe owner has been left devastated after fire tore through her business last night.
Ali Alexander has spent the past 3½ years building up Cafe the Pre Vue in Faithful Street.
Last night she watched on in shock with most of her 27 staff members as flames destroyed the property.
She believes the blaze may have been started by electrical items in the kitchen about 8pm.
“I have an off-site camera,” she said.
“Security rang me and I had a look to see if it was a fly or something triggering an alarm and saw something burning.
“I’m devastated.”
Ms Alexander works at the family business with her partner and said the building had been extensively damaged.
Speaking about 45 minutes after the fire broke out, she said she was keen to rebuild.
“It’s been really well received from the day we opened,” she said.
“We’ve been lucky with the support we’ve had from the locals.
“You hear of this happening to other people.
“I just hope we can get it back up and running to its former glory as soon as possible for my staff and customers.”
Ms Alexander said her staff were like family to her.
“Everyone made their way down here,” she said from the scene.
“The staff care as much as I do.
“We all work together and stick together and we’ll get it up and running again.”
The timing of the fire was also hard, Ms Alexander said.
“There is no good time, but at Easter it’s a real let down,” she said.
“Easter was a chance to showcase what we do and that’s now not going to happen.
“She’s all gone.”
Ms Alexander was waiting to be let inside the building last night, but estimated about 80 per cent of the property had been damaged by the fire.
The cafe had been open for breakfast, lunch and coffee seven days a week and had a capacity of about 120 people.