The aspirin-styled bar stools, towering medical cabinets, DNA-themed sculptures and molecule inspired ashtrays which lined Damien Hirst’s famed, but short-lived, London restaurant Pharmacy sold tonight for £11.1m (€15.9m) at auction.

A warehouse which burned to the ground destroying priceless works of modern art was burgled shortly before the blaze broke out, British police said today.

A fire that destroyed hundreds of artworks thought to be worth millions of euro has “devastated” artists and owners, experts said today.

Some of Britain’s leading modern artists were today waiting to learn if their works, thought to be worth millions of euro, have been destroyed in a warehouse fire.

Millions of euros worth of artworks belonging to collector Charles Saatchi, including Tracey Emin’s tent, are feared destroyed in a warehouse fire.