Farm shop owner devastated as business destroyed in fire

The owner of a County Down farm shop has said he is devastated after it was destroyed by a fire on Saturday night.

William Corrie, owner of Corries Meats in Newtownards, said smoke was first noticed at about 19:30 BST on Saturday and the fire service was called.

Dozens of firefighters tackled the blaze during the night and it was finally put out on Sunday morning.

Corrie said while firefighters arrived at the site quickly, his business was "engulfed" within an hour.

"One of the neighbouring sheds had livestock in it, fortunately we got those out pretty quickly," he said.

The site included a farm shop open to the public, a production site where meat products were made as well as a bakery.

The shop was started by William Corrie's grandfather in the 1970s.

Corrie said the fire service had done an "absolutely fantastic, unbelievable job".

"It's thanks to them that my mother and father's house didn't go up as well," he told BBC News NI.

"So those guys were fantastic and a lot of guys as well pulled together with water supply - we don't have big water supply in the area, it's a common problem for the fire service.

"But we had a couple of local people, friends, that supported heavily with slurry tankers and large tankers full of water.

"But it's devastating - three generations [of work] disappears in a number of hours, it's hard to take."

Former Ulster Rugby player Louis Ludik's business Hellbent, which produces South African-style meat products, was also based at the site.

Ludik said he was at a christening when Corrie phoned to tell him about the fire.

He said a lot of hard work had gone in to building the business after his rugby career.

"It is devastating and looking at the site, it's scary," he said.

"The main thing is that nobody got hurt - that is such a relief."

He paid tribute to the firefighters who tackled the blaze, but also to local people who helped too.

"All the farmers, the neighbours of the Corrie family, jumped in with their tractors and driving in with water tanks - that was very impressive," Ludik said.

"That's when you see the community jumping in and helping each other, that was incredible."

He said other businesses had reached out to help his company start production up again as soon as possible.

The cause of Saturday night's fire is not yet known.