Showgirls fire: Streets closed after Auckland strip club blaze on second storey

Streets are closed in the Auckland CBD due to a lunchtime blaze in a popular strip club.

Police said a section of Customs St East is closed between the intersections with Commerce and Gore Stts due to a fire.

Firefighters respond to a fire in Auckland strip club Showgirls. Photo / Alex Burton

The closures are expected to last for at least 40 minutes, police said.

Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Colin Underdown said a fire has broken out on the second storey of Showgirls on Customs St.

The back of a two-storey building is alight and firefighters are using multiple high-pressure hoses to douse the flames.

Underdown said Fire and Emergency is trying to get traffic control in the area.

A section of Customs St East has been cordoned off by police as about five fire appliances line the street.

Customs St East was closed by the fire. Photo / Benjamin Plummer

Buses in the area are being rerouted.

A fire alarm could be heard blasting as light smoke filled the footpath.

Hato Hone St John said they were notified of a fire on Customs St East at 11.41am but their service has not yet been required.

At least four police cars are in attendance and about seven fire appliances.

Firefighters respond to a fire in Auckland strip club Showgirls. Photo / Alex Burton

Many shops on Customs St East have been reopened. Photo / Alex Burton

Fire crews who have come out of the strip club can be seen scrubbing down equipment as further assistance arrives at the scene.

A number of bystanders can be seen stopping and watching or filming the response.

Schofield Cheen at neighbouring store Mr Katsu said he noticed the fire about 11.50am and that the smell was “not good”.

Cheen said the fire alarm in his store began blaring. He said Fire and Emergency crews asked him to vacate the store. It has since reopened to customers.

Owner of nearby eatery Bõnás Thai Cuisine, David Stannars, told the Herald it was the third fire at the strip club in about as many years, but this one seemed more serious.

He said quite often the workers would stay inside the strip club overnight after finishing their shifts in the early hours of the morning.

“Someone may have just left a heater on overnight or had a problem making their tea. That’s what’s happened in the past.”

He said the women exited the club in an orderly fashion and it was quite an “undramatic” scene and the club’s fire alarms coincided with nearby stores’ alarms.

He said the workers had since left the scene.