Longtime Cafe Badly Damaged In Weekend Fire

RICHMOND, IL -- The Cubby Hole Cafe was badly damaged by a blaze over the weekend and now the beloved local breakfast and lunch spot in Richmond may need to be razed. Fire crews responded to the blaze, which was mainly confined to the kitchen, at about 9 p.m. on Saturday, fire officials told the Northwest Herald. The fire was extinguished in about a half-hour but caused $150,000 in damage.

Owner Tim Snopek told the newspaper the back area of his restaurant was too badly damaged to continue operations. The front, he said, could be cleaned and salvaged. It's unclear at this point how long cleanup at the restaurant will take or if the business will need to be torn down, according to the Northwest Herald.

Snopek hopes to lease space at a nearby restaurant so he can get his business back up and running as soon as possible.

“[Our employees] need to get back and working,” Snopek said.

Meanwhile, longtime employees of the Cubby Hole Cafe gathered outside the business on Sunday afternoon. In a Facebook post, Alexandra Thurlwell shared a photo of the employees. Her mother had worked at the Cubby Hole for 33 years, Thurlwell wrote.

MORE VIA THE NORTHWEST HERALD

PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

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