AN investigation into the cause of yesterday’s devastating fire at Hickory’s Smokehouse is now underway.

The popular Wall Heath restaurant went up in flames at about 2.30am yesterday morning (Thursday, August 25), with more than 100 firefighters from across the West Midlands tackling the flames at its highest.

This morning (Friday, August 26), fire investigators were able to venture onto the site after it took crews almost the entirety of yesterday to bring the fire under control to make the building accessible.

However, a West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said it is still too early to confirm the cause of the fire yet, as the blaze was so severe.

He told the News: “The fire investigators are on the scene as we speak.

“There is no news yet as to what the cause of the fire was as their enquiries are still ongoing.

“We hope the investigators will be able to come up with the cause soon, but the nature of investigations like this one might not even give an exact cause.”

Black Country fire crews have released images of the impact caused by the blaze, which Hickory’s owners have described as “absolutely devastating”.

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

To read our full coverage on the incident from yesterday, click here.