A fire broke out on Wednesday at Kosher Kingdom in Golders Green, sending dark smoke over north London and drawing 15 fire engines, around 100 firefighters and drones to the scene. No one was injured, and officials later said the blaze was not believed to be suspicious.
The alarm spread quickly because the supermarket sits in a part of north London that has faced a string of attacks in recent months. Jay Shah, who said he got a morning phone call that there was a fire affecting the store, looked toward the building and said, “I think it’s from the warehouse at the back.”
Craig Carter said the circumstances of the fire were not believed to be suspicious at this time, and the Metropolitan Police said it was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. Police also said there was no indication of any targeted or deliberate act, a significant distinction in Golders Green after arson attacks on synagogues and community sites over recent months, and after a stabbing attack in April targeted two Jewish men in the area.
That history is why the response went beyond firefighting. London police created a new community protection team last month to safeguard the Jewish community in the capital, initially with 100 extra officers, and officers said they would remain in the area to provide reassurance while investigators continued to examine what went wrong inside the supermarket.
For residents and shop workers, the important answer is already clear: this was a major fire, but not one police currently treat as a hate crime or a deliberate attack. What remains unresolved is the technical one — exactly where the electrical fault started, and what in the building set the blaze off.
