Arson attack at former social club

A former Stourbridge social club has been badly damaged in an arson attack.

Firefighters spent several hours battling the blaze at Stourbridge War Memorial Social Club, in High Street, Amblecote, after it broke out at 9pm on Saturday.

The building, which is up for sale, suffered severe damage to its roof.

The club, which is next to Stourbridge Football Club, opened in 1921 and was once a hub of the community.

Built after the First World War, it served as a social venue for returning servicemen.

But in recent months it has become a dumping ground for fly-tippers and vandals.

It had been the subject of a restoration campaign to bring it back to life but campaigners failed to get in touch with the owner. Amblecote History Society hoped to revamp it with the help of Stourbridge FC, but now a revival is even less likely after it was gutted in the fire, which investigation teams believe was started deliberately.

Fire crews had to work for several hours.

Crew commander Darren Packwood said: "It was going quite well when we got here – flames were coming out of the roof to a height of about 10 feet.

"It took us about 20 minutes to get it under control," he said.

Stourbridge firefighter Gerry Burn, who also tackled the blaze, said the task was made difficult because of the structure of the roof.

He said: "A fair bit of the roof was damaged in the fire but to ensure that it was out, we had to rip a lot of the roof to pieces."