Customers enjoying a Sunday lunchtime pint had to be evacuated from a pub along with staff after an oven caught fire in the kitchen.
The blaze started at about 12.15pm while kitchen workers were preparing lunches in the Spread Eagle pub at Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, just after it opened on March 23.
Staff used a fire blanket to control the flames and managed to isolate the pub’s gas supply before firefighters arrived and used two fire extinguishers to put out the blaze.
Just five people, including staff, were at the West Midlands pub at the time. Nobody was hurt in the incident and it was able to reopen at 1pm although the fire destroyed the oven and caused some smoke damage in the kitchen.
Wolverhampton Fire Station’s watch commander, Tony Bucknall, said staff had acted quickly to alert the emergency services, adding that they had done a “fantastic job” to keep the fire under control.
He added that it was “fortunate” that the fire hadn’t happened later when the Black Country pub would have been a lot busier.
Copyright Press Association 2014