'Absolutely amazing': Thatcham nursery reopens just six weeks after major fire

  • Tigers Day Nursery Alison Huntley reacts to the rebuild of the site

The owner of a nursery in Berkshire has said it's "absolutely amazing" that the site has reopened to children just six weeks after it was destroyed by a major fire.

Tigers Day Nursery in Thatcham burnt to the ground after it was engulfed by fire on 10 March 2026, with the cause not yet known.

Children who attended the nursery, which has been running for 30 years, had to temporarily move to a site ten miles away while the Thatcham site was rebuilt.

Nursery director Alison Huntley said that the scale of the fire meant the impact on the nursery was huge.

The nursery's director said the speed of reopening was 'absolutely amazing' Credit: ITV News Meridian

She said: "Everything (needed replacing), toys, books, fridges, dishwashers, cutlery, plates .... literally everything.

"Even our garden at the back, obviously we had a lot of equipment in there, which has gone, so ... literally everything had to be replaced."

Operations Manager Cara Cozens said the speed of the rebuild had been a joint effort, with lots of people joining together to take part.

"It's happened quick, but it's been a lot of work behind the scenes."

The cause of the fire at the nursery is not known Credit: ITV News Meridian

Ms Huntley added: "What we've achieved is absolutely amazing but you just have to keep going, don't you?

"If you want to reopen. you have to keep going, ut I am quite tired now, so I think I do need a bit of a rest."

Children at the nursery are now learning in a new modular building, with staff making an effort to keep everything, even carpets, as familiar as possible.

Work continues to demolish the barn.

The listed part of the nursery next door survived and will be refurbished, before plans go in for the new building, with the hope that this will be up and running within 12 to 15 months.

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