The general manager of Little Rock’s Midtown Billiards says he plans to reopen after the popular establishment caught fire Monday.
General manager David Shipp, who has worked on and off at the pool hall for 15 years, said the fire started around 20 minutes after he and other bar staff left Monday morning.
“[Midtown] has been here forever. It’s been a staple of downtown Little Rock and it has been the life of every employee here,” Shipp said, adding that Midtown Billiards has been in business since 1940, and in the South Main district since the 1970s.
Shipp said he had informed all of the bar's staff, which numbers about 11, of the fire by late Monday morning.
Lt. Edwin Woolf with the Little Rock Fire Department said the agency responded around 11 a.m. to the blaze at 1316 S. Main St. in the city’s South Main district.
The pool hall, which opens at 3 p.m. and closes at 5 a.m. daily, had no one inside at the time of the fire.
[GALLERY: Click here to see scene of Midtown Billiards fire.]
Video from the scene showed flames visible from the front window as heavy smoke billowed out of windows and vents throughout the Midtown Billiards building. Pieces of charred equipment were later placed outside as around 40 firefighters worked at the scene.
Neighboring restaurant Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom, which is closed on Mondays, also sustained smoke damage, Woolf said.
The extent of the fire damage at both establishments was not immediately clear. Woolf said the fire marshal was preparing to investigate as crews remained at Midtown Billiards on Monday afternoon.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
EARLIER:
Midtown Billiards in Little Rock's South Main district has caught fire.
A spokesman for the Little Rock Fire Department said shortly after 11 a.m. that the bar at 1316 S. Main was on fire. He didn't know the extent of the damage or how the blaze had started.
Video from the scene showed flames visible in the front window of the popular establishment. There was no preliminary report of injuries.