THE Bourne Mill antiques centre in Guildford Road could partially reopen within “six to 12 weeks”, its owner has said, after a fire ripped through the Grade II listed 17th century mill last week.

Pictures of the mill’s devastated interior have emerged after leaseholders David and Claire Myers and antique dealers were allowed back into the building, just days after a fire ravaged its upper two storeys and roof last Tuesday.

The pictures reveal charred remains of the 300-year-old mill’s wooden beams, antiques and object d’art, as well as flooding throughout the building - with its basement currently submerged under a foot of water used to fight the fire.

Around 10 of the centre’s 70 antique dealers have lost everything in the fire and although many have been able to recover items from the building, some rooms in the third and fourth storeys are still too unsafe to enter.

Despite the damage, David and Claire, who have run The Bourne Mill for the past five years, remain adamant the business will bounce back and hope to reopen its bottom three floors in the spring.

David told The Herald: “We are now able to access the whole of the building apart from the top floor and have been working from 9am until dark every day to clean it from top to bottom. Everyone has been helping out and the staff and dealers have been fantastic.

“The top two floors were badly fire-damaged, but structurally the rest of the building is OK and the worst of the damage was caused by water.

“The plan is to remove all the furniture and antiques we can, dry out the building and remove the smoke fumes, then paint and re-carpet throughout.

“Scaffolding is due to go up this week and as it’s a listed building it has to be rebuilt exactly as it was, which will take time. But once the builders have made the building safe, we’ll look to reopen as much of it as possible.

“It will probably take around six to 12 weeks, but there is some cause for optimism.”

Mr Myers added the mill was fully insured and offers of help and sympathy have been received from people all over the world.

Surrey Fire and Rescue is yet to complete its investigation into the cause of the fire, although an electrical fault is suspected.

Erica Arnold, whose business Real Green Dress deals out of The Bourne Mill’s basement, has recovered all 200 of her vintage wedding dresses from the building.

She said: “Some of my dresses are badly water damaged and I will be working through these next week to assess how many can be restored.

“But some dealers have lost their entire stock and others have not been able to access their stock because the rooms are too dangerous to enter.

“Everybody is pitching in and helping out but recovery is difficult. It is a hard hat working area and there is water and debris everywhere.

“The mill staff are managing the salvage operation very well and the Mill Stream Tea Rooms have been in supplying tea and coffee to the dealers and generally keeping everyone’s spirits up.

“Offers of help from the public have been overwhelming and we are all deeply touched. People have been giving packing materials, offers of physical help and use of vehicles. The messages of support via social media have given everyone a real boost.”

Another dealer whose family has been connected with the antiques centre for more than 20 years, Clare Chamberlain, was inspired by the public offers of help to set up an online fundraising page to raise money for those who have lost everything in the fire.

She said: “Many of those on the upper floors have lost everything and it is for them that we have set up this page. Everyone at the Mill invests a huge amount of themselves, their time and their money in locating and preparing such a vast array of special items for sale. To lose everything in such tragic and shocking circumstances is a terrible loss.

“We are hoping that they can now have a little bit of love and luck back just before Christmas from the luckier traders, locals and regular visitors. Our hope is to be able to raise some money for them to reinvest into their small and wonderful enterprises so they can return to the mill even stronger.”

Donations to Claire’s fundraising page can be made online at https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/clare-chamberlain.