Walkies saved me from blaze that wrecked my home, says Meg Mathews

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Neighbours told how they feared their own homes would be engulfed by the flames such was the intensity of the fire and the thick black smoke pouring from the £1.6 million house in north London.

Four fire engines and more than a dozen firefighters spent almost an hour trying to control the blaze, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault in the kitchen.
Mathews, 45, and her daughter, Anais, 11, whose father is Mathews's ex-husband Oasis star Noel Gallagher, have not been able to return to their home. The fire wrecked the ground floor and also damaged upstairs bedrooms.

The designer told the Standard how she and her daughter were out with their two dogs when the fire broke out on November 6.

Mathews said: "It's terrifying to think what would have happened if we had been at home at the time. It was a Sunday afternoon and it just so happened that we were out with the dogs. We could easily have been at home. It's obviously upsetting to come back and see your home and your possessions ruined. But my absolute first priority is my daughter and my pets. I can only be thankful that they are safe. And I can't praise the firefighters - Green watch from Belsize Park - enough. Without them there probably wouldn't be anything left standing."

Mathews is hopeful of being able to move back into the property but it is likely to require extensive work to make it habitable. The interior designer moved to the three-bedroom home in 2007 after selling her £3.5 million five-storey terrace house in Regent's Park Road, saying she wanted to downsize after her divorce.

In an interview with the Standard Mathews referred to her new home as her "pop box". She designed the interior herself, abandoning the rock gothic style of her old home for something simpler - apart from her living room, which had one wall covered in her own wallpaper featuring huge pineapples in fluorescent colours .

The former party planner is planning to add a line of bespoke furniture to her collection of wallpaper and scarves sold in Liberty.