Pavilion Fire – Hampshire Telegraph – Friday, 27 August 1926

SELSEY PAVILION FIRE. LIGHTED CIGARETTE LEFT ON A CHAIR. About 4.30 on Saturday Mr. Hobden, of High Street, Selsey discovered that the local music hall, the Pavilion, was on fire. He immediately informed Mr. F. W. Phipps. the owner, who with the assistance of Messrs. C. E. Smith and L. Maidment, and his sons obtained the parish council fire appliances and endeavoured to arrest the outbreak pending the arrival of the Chichester Brigade. In this they were successful, although the fire had a good hold and on the arrival of the brigade the fire was extinguished. The fire appears to have been caused by a cigarette being placed on an upholstered chair in the balcony, which, having caught alight, ignited the wooden staircase, the balcony and the roof. Dancing was in progress at the hall until three o'clock that morning. During the fire, a gas meter exploded and Mr. Phipps received severe injuries to his head and hands through being struck by falling slates. The roof and balcony were practically burned out, as was a portion of Mr. Phipps's estate office close at hand.