HUNDREDS of youngsters from Hook face months without a youth club after a devastating fire at the village community centre.

The Base youth club, which provides activities for nine to 16-year-olds, bore the brunt of the £120,000 of damage that was caused in last month's blaze. It is now likely to be shut for repairs until early 2004.

Club manager Eileen Johnson told The Gazette: "Everybody was very upset when they saw the state of the place - everyone was crying.

"We lost pool, air hockey and table-tennis tables, a Nintendo 64 games console, a big television and our speakers. Everything seems to have been wrecked by the water that was pumped into the building by the fire brigade."

Eileen said she hoped alternative accommodation for the club's 300 members could be arranged while the repairs are under way.

She added: "The kids are stopping our leaders in the supermarket and asking when it is going to open again."

Antony Hunter, vice chairman of Hook Parish Council, said the cost of repairs to the building could reach £120,000.

He added: "Both the police and the fire brigade are totally satisfied that it was an accident.

"It appears that a halogen spotlight which illuminates the basketball court got bent, probably by being hit by a ball. It heated up the wooden cladding, which caught fire, and this spread to the roof."

Firefighters from Odiham, Fleet, Hartley Wintney and Basingstoke took two hours to bring the fire under control. No-one was injured.