Chris Paige will never forget the evening of July 3, 2025.

Having become mayor just six weeks earlier, he found himself drawing on his military experience as a typical summer evening turned into one of the darkest moments in Petersfield’s recent history.

“I was in the Winton House Centre when this fire engine went by, all lights flashing and sirens blazing, heading into town,” said Cllr Paige in recalling the Lavant Street fire.

“I thought ‘that’s not good’ because normally they’re heading the other way because of where the fire station is.

“A little while later there was another and it dawned that something big was happening.”

That “something big” turned out to be Petersfield’s most serious fire since the Donkey Cart blaze of 1996.

An overloaded electrical circuit was cited as the cause of the fire which engulfed the landmark Victorian building.

Details are still emerging, 12 months on. Of the original retailers affected by the blaze, only One Tree Books and its popular Ginger’s Café has returned after a short spell in the former Ann’s Prams unit on Chapel Street.

House of Boo found a home at the other end of the High Street and Lavant Dental moved appointments to its other site in Waterlooville. The latter was one of the worst affected units along with Snappy Snaps, which had only opened a few weeks earlier following the closure of the much-loved Petersfield Photographic.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen about moving back because we’re not sure how long it’s going to take – it’s progressing slowly,” said Shane Wakefield, who was working in the corner unit while the fire took hold above.

“I think it started in the back. I didn’t know it was happening but then a customer started knocking on the window so I stopped everything and went outside.

“I just saw smoke. It seemed to happen quite quickly.”

While much has been said about the fire’s impact on the retailers and businesses below, the fire also destroyed at least two homes. People working in the clean-up and rebuild said one of the affected residents had just bought a flat and furnished it, only for disaster to strike.

One of the biggest jobs was emptying the fire-affected floors, with Pegasus Builders creating a doorway to help the “amazing” Petersfield Cleaning Company with the “really hard” clearance – it was especially helpful when it came to removing the weighty dentist’s seat.

While the scaffolding remains for now, there will be a day when it’s removed, and the once-familiar corner building will reclaim its place in the streetscape once more.

And while it might have been the town’s biggest fire for decades, it fuelled a different fight – one to help victims.

Cllr Paige added: “The biggest thing that came from that fire for me was people were contacting me, offering to help, especially for those who couldn’t get home.

“I’ve got a bedsit, I’ve got an AirBnB on Station Road, they said. It just showed how everyone came together.”