Fire damages historic building in Annapolis Royal, N.S.
ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, N.S. — The Whiskey Teller pub building in Annapolis Royal, which dates back to 1884, was damaged by fire Monday.
Andrew Cranton, chief of the Annapolis Royal Volunteer Fire Department, said the exterior shell of the brick building, which was home to the first Bank of Nova Scotia, and the front portion of the restaurant remain.
“The back half of the restaurant is completely a writeoff from fire and water damage,” Cranton said.
“It is a huge loss to the town. It is a huge loss to the employer.”
Cranton said he had spoken to the restaurant’s owner.
“He has full intentions of getting the Whiskey Teller back on her feet as fast as he can.”
The restaurant is an anchor tenant in the downtown, located near King’s Theatre and the Farmers and Traders Market and a stone’s throw from the town’s wharf.
“It’s a staple,” Cranton said. “In most towns, everybody has their own little places to go and the Whiskey Teller was ours. We were quite proud of it.”
Firefighters were dispatched to 9 Church St. shortly at about 8:30 a.m. Four employees and a cleaner were inside the restaurant preparing for the day when they called in the fire.
“It came in as a chimney fire and turned quickly from a chimney fire into a commercial structure fire,” the fire chief said.
Most of the damage was in the kitchen on the first floor but the fire continued through the ceiling and out through the roof.
“Once it got between the first and second floor, it made it awful hard to extinguish,” Cranton said. “Our aerial devices helped us immensely get control of that fire.”
The town doesn’t have an aerial truck. The first one arrived from Lawrencetown and the second from Kingston. Some big planter boxes were removed by town workers to help get fire trucks closer to the fire.
An estimated 60 firefighters from Digby to Kingston responded to the call. They were on the scene until shortly after 1 p.m. Nobody was injured.
Cranton said he spoke with the fire marshal, and the investigation has been turned over to the insurance adjuster.
Cranton thanked the neighbouring departments who helped fight the fire and noted the volunteer population is dwindling across the country.
“Without volunteers, we aren’t going to be able to do what we need to do,” he said.
He also noted that one of the fire trucks responding from Digby was passed along Highway 101 en route to the fire. The incident was reported to the RCMP.
