GUTTED LAUNDRY SOON TO REOPEN
Partial resumption of work next week
MITCHAM MODEL LAUNDRY, swept by fire last week, is to start work again on a reduced scale next week. Many of the employees, most of whom are women, will be offered their jobs back. The laundry employs a staff of 100.
Some of the employees found other jobs when they heard about the fire. Very few of the other employees will lose their jobs.
Some, doing a small amount of piece-work, may be stood off, Mr. Leonard Cole, a co-director of the firm, told “The Advertiser.”
Very few Mitcham families have been inconvenienced by the fire. Most of the “family” laundry had been washed and despatched before the fire, Mr. Cole said. Much of the remainder was loaded ready to be distributed.
Most of the laundry destroyed came from six factories which had contracts with the laundry, and from three hotels.
“None of these has been seriously inconvenienced, because they obviously do not send all their wash to us at once. All their loss will be made up on insurance, and most of them are content to leave things as they are and are not transferring their custom. Service will be resumed next week,” Mr. Cole said.
£200,000 damage
On Tuesday the electricity was laid on once again. One rotary ironing unit has been salvaged and will be working again after repair. Three others were destroyed. The cause of the fire which destroyed £200,000 worth of equipment and property, is not known.
The property destroyed included 2,000 army sheets and 1,000 bundles of army laundry, all contract work from Southern Command Headquarters at Hounslow.
The fire broke out during the early hours of Wednesday morning last week. Five bays of the laundry building were gutted. Teams of firemen from five districts fought the blaze for six hours to bring it under control.
Mitcham History Notes 