"THE kitchen just blew up into flames, right in front of my face." Janette Robinson spoke out after she cheated death when flames ripped through a city centre bar.

Licensee Janette, 33, narrowly escaped when Jacks tapas bar, in Castlegate, York, was gutted by fire.

The bar has been forced to close for up to three months by the blaze, which tore the kitchen apart and wreaked thousands of pounds of damage.

Janette said: "It was a horrific experience.

"My last few customers had left for the evening and I was just going into the kitchen when it happened. Luckily I wasn't ten seconds ahead of myself, or I wouldn't be here now.

"If I'd been there any faster ,I would have been right there in the middle of it, but I escaped without getting hurt.

"I'm feeling very shaken now. I think I must have been in shock at first because I was able to phone the insurance company and sort everything out. It's only really just starting to hit me."

A North Yorkshire fire service spokesman said firefighters believed the blaze was caused by a faulty thermostat in the bar's deep fat fryer, and there would be no further investigation.

Janette said she expected the damage to cost thousands of pounds to put right. The business will now be closed for about three months while builders are drafted in to sort out severe structural damage.

"There has been quite extensive damage to the building, particularly the kitchen and the bar area," Janette said. "The kitchen needs to be completely rebuilt because there's no ceiling left.

"Fortunately, all the customers had gone home, so I didn't have to evacuate."

There are five hotel rooms above the bar, but fortunately no one was staying in them at the time.

Janette said the business would be hit hard by the temporary closure.

"It's heartbreaking," she said.

"We have been inundated with calls from people wanting to book rooms or book tables, but I have had to turn them away.

"We've been open for about two-and-a-half years and business was good, and we're really worried that people will think we're shutting permanently.

"It will take us a long time to recover from this."

The fire broke out at about 7.45pm on Thursday and rapidly tore through the bar. It took between 40 and 50 minutes for firefighters to tackle the blaze because the building was so smoke-logged.

Janette, who also runs the Little John pub next door, is now struggling to employ Jacks staff at the pub, to keep them in work while the bar is renovated.

Updated: 10:44 Wednesday, January 25, 2006