A fire gutted the kitchen of Henry VIII?s Restaurant yesterday morning, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage and forcing its closure for the next three months.

John Ferris, managing director of the Southampton eatery, told that staff tried to douse the flames with fire extinguishers but had to flee the building after being overcome by smoke.

Firefighters from Port Royal Station arrived and extinguished the blaze, the cause of which is still being investigated.

Mr. Ferris estimated that cleaning-up the damage and replacing ruined equipment could cost more than $100,000. Insurers will assess the destruction today.

Mr. Ferris said the South Road restaurant, which opened in 1970 and is owned by a number of local shareholders, suffered a fire about 25 years ago when a burglar set it ablaze.

?I have gone through this before and it?s always a shock to your system when you have a fire,? he said. ?It?s something you are not thinking about. You are in business and ten minutes later you are not in business.?

He said the fire started just after 9 a.m. yesterday as chefs were preparing food for Sunday brunch.

?One of the chefs came in and said there was a fire in the kitchen,? said Mr. Ferris. ?Now and again we get oven fires and they get them out with a fire extinguisher.

?But they expended three fire extinguishers and they couldn?t get the fire out and then the smoke overcame everyone.

?We couldn?t see where the fire was. You couldn?t see your hand in front of you.

?We got the staff out ? that was my main concern. We dialled 911 straightaway.?

He said the fire, which started behind a grill, destroyed the kitchen ceiling as well as expensive equipment but that the rest of the restaurant and pub, which employs more than 30 staff, was okay.

?I think we are talking about (being closed for) three months,? he said. ?The problem is being on an island it might be a while to get the equipment back in.

?We have an insurance policy with Colonial that covers us in the event of fire. ?It pays a certain amount of wages but it?s always hard on the service staff because they make a lot of money out of gratuities whereas chefs are on a weekly wage.

?People on the service staff are on the losing end when you have a catastrophe like this.?

Mr. Ferris said three major conventions were taking place on the Island at the moment and the restaurant had been fully booked for this evening and Wednesday.

Sgt. Josonne Smith, from the Fire Service, said he was still investigating what started the blaze. He said three engines attended and a crew from Port Royal station, wearing breathing apparatus, put out the fire before colleagues from Hamilton arrived. About 13 fire-fighters in total were in attendance.

?Once they did that, it was just a matter of ventilating the building,? he said. ?It could have been a lot worse. But I think between having the vents and having the door closed on the western side saved the rest of the building from receiving smoke and heat damage.?