HICKORY’S bosses have vowed to rebuild their popular business after a devastating fire burnt the Wall Heath restaurant to the ground.

More than 100 firefighters from across the West Midlands battled the flames when it was at its height early on Thursday morning (August 25).

However, the cause of the blaze, which left masses of debris after ripping through the Kidderminster Road eatery, is still unknown.

Hickory's spokeswoman Paula Brown, said the company is “completely committed” to rebuilding.

“It has been such a successful site for us,” she said. “The feedback has been really positive and we have been so welcomed by the community that it has given us the fire in our belly to come back stronger and rebuild.

“We don't know the timescales yet and we have many discussions to get through, as we still haven’t got a clear idea how the fire started, but we are completely committed to rebuilding.”

Fire investigators have been searching through the debris since Friday morning (August 26) and on Tuesday (August 30) discovered a CCTV recording device.

Neil Spencer, a spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service, said: “In the masses of debris they have located the CCTV recording device and an expert will be looking at this sometime later this week.

“If they can assess the footage that will cast more light on where and how the fire started.”

Firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze at about 2.30am last Thursday, with crews helping to downsize the blaze and stop it from spreading to the nearby hotel and leisure complex.

Twenty two rooms at the hotel had to be evacuated due to the fire, which is a not currently a police matter, but no one suffered injuries.

The restaurant only opened in November last year replacing the iconic Kingfisher Club nightspot, which in the past had played host to a number of the world’s biggest musical artist.

Wall Heath Councillor Nicola Richards said: “We are very pleased to hear they plan on reopening the restaurant once work has finished.

“It’s incredibly sad to see such a successful restaurant suffer so much damage. Hickory’s has been a wonderful addition to our community and has proven incredibly popular since its opening.”