It seems to happen a lot around Croydon where, if there's a building in the way of a prospective property development, it quite conveniently burns down to get the ball rolling. The most obvious example being an old garage that was earmarked for some flats catching fire on Friday night, but not enough damage was done - so it caught fire the following Friday night as well.
People used to eagerly put together the pieces about our local fires as well. They did have an uncanny knack of happening at very convenient times.

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