The owner of a top Hamilton liquor store yesterday vowed it would be business as usual today after a weekend blaze threatened his premises.

William de V. Frith, owner of Front Street's Frith's Liquors and Mayor of Hamilton, was speaking after a Saturday night fire at the store.

He said: "There will be some work going on but the rest of the building, the shop itself, is fine, except for some cleaning up.'' A total of four fire tenders and two support vehicles raced to the store just after 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Part of Front Street was closed as firefighters tackled the blaze, amid fears the fire could spread to A.S. Cooper & Sons department store and the shopping mall on the other side. Police called in the Fire Service after noticing smoke coming from the building.

Firemen broke through a glass-panelled door to get inside the building and the building was declared safe around 7.30 p.m, although some personnel remained on the scene until almost 11 p.m. clearing smoke and checking for other outbreaks.

Mr. Frith added Fire Service experts are set to probe the cause of the blaze today.

But a Police spokesman said yesterday that suspicious circumstances had already been ruled out.

The store owner added: "We were very fortunate -- it was more smoke than anything.

"It was a very small fire in a section leading into the warehouse, but it had nothing to do with the warehouse per se. Luckily it was caught early.

"That's what minimised the potential of a very serious fire -- the early arrival and professionalism of the Fire Service.

"It's the first problem we have had since 1956 when the building was opened.''