Fire crews had to soak a Perth bar on Friday night to save it from a blaze burning next door.
But the owner of The Venue hopes engineers will give him the go-ahead to open later this week.
Around 20 people had to be evacuated from The Venue while a blaze took over a nearby abandoned property.
Flooding becoming a year-round problem
Six fire appliances raced to the scene on St John Street around 6pm on Friday. No one was hurt in the incident.
The Venue owner Frank Burger-Seed said: “We would like to thank all of the fire and emergency services involved taking care of the incident that happened on the outskirts of our property this evening.
“Unfortunately The Venue has met with the aftermath of a fire at the front of our building but it did not include our property.
“The incident has caused the closure of our business. Luckily nobody was present and there were no tenants within the building that caught fire.
“Due to the fire and rescue department and all other emergency services involved, this incident was treated safely and quickly which meant there were no serious injuries.”
Speaking to the PA yesterday, Frank said: “We want to reopen as soon as possible, hopefully Friday.
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“We are waiting for the engineers to tell us we can switch the power back on. There was a lot of water used to ensure the fire did not spread substantially in our building.
“I feel we had a lucky escape. The flames did not break through our fire doors but the uppermost floor wasn’t so well protected.
“We had just painted the upstairs rooms at The Venue and sadly that’s now ruined.
“The problem now is there is some water damage affecting our electrical circuits.”
The incident is the second to impact on The Venue this year. In February, part of the building collapsed into the street.
The coronavirus pandemic also forced the watering hole’s temporary closure in March.
Perth city centre councillor Peter Barrett described the scene on Friday: “You could smell heavy smoke and fumes from across the river.
“A fire engine and other emergency service vehicles passed me in traffic in Bridgend. I could see smoke billowing up behind St Matthew’s Church.
“Watergate was cordoned off at the top of the vennel where I met Frank Burger-Seed, who was able to tell me that everyone had got out of The Venue safely.
“In the face of adversity, Frank was still joking that he’d now been hit by tempest when the wind blew the chimney into The Venue, flood when the Pavilion Cafe was inundated in the deluge last week and now fire. I really hope he gets through this successfully.”
