Just ten months after undergoing a major renovation, Pirates Bight restaurant on Norman Island burned to the ground on Oct. 1 after oily rags spontaneously combusted.
Staffers scrambled to erect temporary bar and restaurant facilities on the site and reopened within weeks.
Since then, the restaurant has been rebuilt, a project that was completed April 1 in time for the BVI Spring Regatta, giving employees, sailors, and Norman Island owner Dr. Henry Jarecki something to celebrate.
And that’s what they did Saturday night at a wine-pairing dinner held to commemorate the reopening and to act as a fundraiser for the Youth Empowerment Project, a programme founded by Dr. Jarecki.
Rupert Starkey, a manager at the restaurant, said employees were happy to see the recovery from the fire.
They were also happy to have the rebuild behind them, because the restaurant was in full operation last season while extensive construction was going on.
“We were sort of doing two operations,” he said.
The rebuild kept the same footprint as the previous restaurant with the exception of expanded kitchen facilities and a new location for the gift shop.
See the June 19, 2014 edition for full coverage.
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