Pub closed after major blaze

A pub was expected to remain closed today after flames tore through its roof – with fears it could also be forced to stay shut throughout the busy Christmas period.

Eight fire crews were called to the Lyttelton Arms, in Bromsgrove Road, Hagley, after the alarm was raised yesterday morning. 

Roads around the pub were blocked by fire engines as more officers arrived on the scene to help control the fire.

It is believed the fire started in the kitchen before spreading to a roof space above. Staff working in the pub at the time were evacuated and no injuries have been reported.

Roads were eventually reopened but firefighters were still at the scene last night checking lighting and investigating how the fire at the pub could have started.

People passing near to the pub said the smoke was so thick it obscured the view around nearby Hagley ring road and other roads were blocked off by fire engines.

One onlooker said he had been stunned to see all the smoke and it looked like a major fire

“I was approaching the traffic island at the time and it was absolute chaos,” he said. “Roads around the pub were block by fire engines and there seemed to be more arriving all the time.

“The smoke was literally billowing out of the roof and spreading all the way across to the traffic island. It was so thick you could barely see what was going on.”

A spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Fire Service confirmed eight fire crews had been called to the site from all across the region to help tackle the blaze.

“At the moment we believe the fire to have started in the kitchen and then to have spread to the roof space.”