Police are now assisting the investigation into the fire that devastated the Star Inn at Harome.
The 14th century inn has been gutted by the blaze, which was first reported at 10.13pm last night (Wednesday).
More than 40 firefighters were involved with the battle to save the Michelin-starred restaurant.
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After the fire was extinguished, senior firefighters began the investigation into its cause.
This afternoon, North Yorkshire Police issued this statement:
“Police are currently at the scene of an incident in the village of Harome. A serious fire broke out at The Star Inn at just before 10.15pm last night (Wednesday 24 November).
“Fire investigators are taking lead on the investigation and have called the police in to assist with this.
“A cordon remains in place and the public are currently asked to avoid the area.”
‘Considerable damage’
Station manager for York, Selby and Tadcaster Tony Walker is one of the lead fire investigators on the case.
He told David Dunning on YorkMix Radio: “We’ve got considerable fire damage to the roof of the premises – around about 75% of the thatch has been destroyed by fire.
“We’ve got crews hot-spotting and removing areas of thatch which we believe may ignite at some point.
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“The crews have been out all night and worked tremendously hard to try and save as much of this historical building and local business as possible.”
Tony said they were focusing on an area where witnesses said they saw the fire when it broke out. “We work our way down, and look for the causes in an area where we believe the fire may have started.
“There will be a fire crew presence for some time yet.”