Fire
The golf club owners spent an estimated £750,000 on renovating the building into a high-class restaurant, however in the early hours of Wednesday 17 September 2008, a serious fire broke out within Woolston Hall, in the older part of the building, that was undergoing renovation work. The fire total gutted the stately manor house. Essex fire brigade reported significant problems fighting the fire, not only because of the scafholding surrounding the building, but also due to a lack of high flow water supply. This was soon resolved by draining the swimming pool, which was once used for 'Splash' nights in Atlantis, to fight the fire.
It has been reported that the golf club had only insured the original £1m purchase price and had not covered the costs of the renovation work.
This put an end to the re-opening plans, which had been put on hold for almost 2 years from the initial plans due to financial problems related to the 'crunch'. The cause of the fire is yet unknown, but rumours have been circulating on the internet, but the final investigation results are awaited.
Planning permission was submitted to the Epping Forest council post fire to turn the building into a restaurant which were accepted. This is not the news that the old country club goers wanted to hear, as it was hoped that the building would re-open as The Country Club once again.
In Late 2010 after substantial rebuilding, and renovation the building finally reopened as a restaurent, under the name of 'Mooros'. The name is based on the original owners of the hall in the mid-1970s - Sir Bobby Moore and Sir Sean Connery.
Read more about this topic: Epping Forest Country Club
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“When there was no more lantern in the kitchen,
The fire got out through crannies in the stove
And danced in yellow wrigglers on the ceiling,
As much at home as if they’d always danced there.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
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“Can fire be carried in the bosom without burning one’s clothes? Or can one walk on hot coals without scorching the feet? So is he who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 6:27-29.