Furniture business without insurance suffers almost £1m loss in huge Wolverhampton blaze
A furniture manufacturing business gutted in a major blaze in Wolverhampton was not covered by insurance, resulting in almost £1 million in losses.
Furniture business SR Living was among 32 enterprises based inside the factory units on Sunbeam Street in Wolverhampton left gutted by the fire, which broke out around 7.30am on January 14.
The proprietor Younis Choudhry told the Express & Star he was in the middle of negotiating new insurance cover for the furniture business which included online, wholesale departments plus a bed showroom at Imex Business Park in Upper Villiers Street in Blakenhall when the premises went up in smoke.
"The situation is very bad for us. I don't really know what to do or what to say. The insurance expired a few days before the fire. The policy was up for renewal and was due start the following week. I had been in negotiation with some companies to get a cheaper quote than what we had previously.
"I told myself that a week or two wouldn't make any difference as the building had been standing for about 200 years and it would be it would be safe in the period before the new policy kicked in. Unfortunately during that period my luck ran out. The building has been here since 1806.
"What's the odds on something like this happening?
"As a result we've suffered a £900,000 loss. I have worked very hard to make this business and it took me over 10 years to build it up to where it was. I feel like my life has been destroyed. Many families were relying on the business and the local furniture shops got stock from us.
"The only positive side is that no-one got hurt. It's going to cost over £100,000 to start up again," Mr Choudhry explained.
The blaze started at a car repair shop the rear of the old factory site near the junction of Sunbeam Street and Upper Villiers Street and the flames spread to other units resulting in around 100 firefighters tackling the incident at its height. Smoke could be seen billowing over the city for miles around.
The road has been shut to traffic since then.
West Midlands Fire Service sent 18 fire engines an crews based at Bilston, Fallings Park, Tipton, Willenhall, Haden Cross, Wednesbury, Dudley and Walsall to the scene for the initial response.
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