Corries Meats: 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

Apr 12, 2026 → Apr 12, 2026