After the fire: the pavilion at Mitcham, alongside the smouldering remains of the Burn Bullock pub yesterday
Clubs and residents’ groups in Mitcham have been picking up the pieces following the blaze on Friday night that caused terrible damage to the Grade II-listed Burn Bullock pub.
As well as its association with a former Surrey cricketer, the Burn Bullock is also closely connected to the largely timber-framed pavilion used by Mitcham Cricket Club for their games on the historic Cricket Green.
While firefighters remained on the scene yesterday, dampening down the embers from the blaze, officials from the cricket club were busy re-arranging their fixture list.
An early season cricket match planned for today has been cancelled, but in a statement issued by the cricket club, they say that they “expect to be continuing with cricket for juniors, adults and women as normal for the 2024 season”.
The club’s officials are holding an emergency meeting today.
“We are horrified by the tragic destruction of the Burn Bullock pub,” the club executive said, “although extremely relieved that no one was hurt.
“Fortunately our historic cricket pavilion has not been damaged. It does, however, seem like the upstairs function room in the Burn Bullock where the Cricket Scorers and Umpires’ Association was formed has now been lost.”
The cricket club is stoically carrying on – very much in the spirit of play up, play up and play the game.
They are opening the pavilion from noon until 2pm today “for anyone in the community that wants to come in for a cuppa and a chat”.
Mitcham Cricket Club, sometimes known as the MCC, said in its statement: “The freeholder of the Burn Bullock is our freeholder, too. We await to see their response to this.
“We will also continue to work with the council to ensure around 350 years of cricket being played on the Green can continue long into the future.”
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