A HISTORIC antique centre is set to return to Farnham – four years after a huge blaze ripped through the roof and building.

The Bourne Mill Antique Centre is to re-open after major refurbishment works took place on the restoring the 300-year-old mill.

Despite signage outside the building expecting the centre to open in either ‘September/October 2019’, owner Glynn Evans confirmed its opening would be delayed until “early November”, as the team still have “another three or four weeks to go”.

The 17th century mill was the site of a fire on November 24, 2015, which resulted in damage to both the roof and the interior of the building.

Although the roof suffered damage from the fire, the lower levels of the building were also greatly effected after fire fighters drenched the building from the top, causing the interiors to suffer substantial water damage, including the basement – which was submerged under a foot of water.

Glynn described the building as being “swamped” by the water, and that as the interior of the building was made of timber, they had to wait for the building to “completely dry out”.

While initially thought that the building would open within “six to 12 weeks” after the 2015 blaze, issues with Glynn’s insurance company Axa, pushed the opening date back by a further four years.

Reports from the Herald in 2017 stated that Glynn had hired a specialist heritage value and surveyor, who estimated the repair costs at “about £1 million”.

Despite the valuation, the gap between Evans and Axa’s valuation of repair costs was “more than half a million pounds” and it was said that he was considering “legal action”.

In an update, owner Glynn Evans confirmed to the Herald that the issue between himself and insurance company Axa was “not resolved”.

He instead chose to invest the money into repairing the historical mill himself and said: “I did not pay a lot for it, but it has become worth a considerable amount of money.

“I thought I had two options – sell it as a wreck or sort it out myself.”

Now, after months of repair work to both the roof and interiors, Glynn has confirmed that trade will soon return to the site on Guildford Road.

The Herald can confirm that the ever popular cafe is returning, and Glynn said that those set to trade from the building have all been “very supportive” and that after years of work, it all “feels very relieving”.

Anyone with trading enquiries for the Bourne Mill should email [email protected]