Philip Simmonds was charged with arson after a fire damaged Cafe Monde Winchester and three other buildings in The Square in Winchester. The cafe owner, 57, of Farm House Close in Fareham, is due before Southampton Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
More than 50 firefighters and 10 fire engines were sent to The Square at about 06:00 BST on Monday, and the response later reached 10 fire engines, specialist appliances and support teams. A man was arrested and treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, while no other injuries were reported.
The Square in Winchester
The fire spread through four buildings in the city centre, not just Cafe Mundo in The Square. Police and the fire service are carrying out a joint investigation to establish the cause, and that work sits alongside the arson charge now facing Simmonds.
That detail creates the sharpest friction in the case: Simmonds owns the cafe that was damaged, yet he was charged over the same fire. The charge is arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered, a wording that raises the stakes beyond simple property damage and puts the outcome of Wednesday's appearance before Southampton Magistrates' Court at the centre of the case.
Southampton Magistrates' Court
For anyone affected in Winchester city centre, the immediate change is that the fire is no longer only an emergency-service incident; it is now a criminal case tied to one named defendant and one named location. The unanswered point that still drives the story is what caused the fire in The Square.
