London’s Chiltern Firehouse has been evacuated amid a blaze on Friday afternoon. The hotel was due to host Netflix‘s well-attended BAFTA Film Awards party on Sunday night.
The London Fire Brigade said around 60 firefighters attended the Marylebone property at nearly 3pm local time. The cause of the blaze is not known at this stage.
“There is a fire in ducting which leads from the ground floor to the roof of the four storey hotel with a restaurant on the ground floor,” the London Fire Brigade said. “Around one hundred people have evacuated the building before the Brigade arrived.”
David Brown, a journalist for The Times of London, posted a video of smoke billowing out of the five-star hotel, which was once a fire station. The venue has been contacted for comment.
It is not clear how the incident at the London celebrity hotspot will impact on Netflix’s BAFTA plans. The streamer’s event, at which it hoped to toast a successful night for features including Emilia Pérez, was due to get underway at 10pm on Sunday.
Through the course of the evening, actors, filmmakers, and executives from rival studios have been known to leave their own parties and convene in Marylebone, where they drink and dance until the early hours of the morning.
The Chiltern Firehouse is a 1889 Grade II-listed Victorian Gothic building. It is home to a restaurant and 26 suites. Dua Lipa, Callum Turner, and Matt Smith were among the stars photographed at the venue this week, while a pre-awards dinner hosted Vanessa Kirby and Regé-Jean Paul on Thursday.
