A 400-year-old market town hotel housing Ukrainian refugees including children has been destroyed by fire overnight – but somehow there appears to have been no casualties.
The Angel Inn in Midhurst, West Sussex, was among a number of buildings engulfed by a blaze in the early hours of this morning.
The fire was thought to have broken out shortly after 1am at a property on North Street before spreading to the roof of the hotel next door.
Despite the scale and ferocity of the fire, no casualties have been reported, with four people briefly treated at the scene. Around 70 firefighters remain at the scene this morning and the cause is still being investigated.
Local resident Hilton Holloway, who witnessed the inferno, said that around 30 people, including some children, were evacuated from the Grade-II listed former coaching inn.
‘There were a number of Ukrainian refugees in the hotel, which had around 15 rooms,’ he said.
‘I spoke to one young woman who seemed relatively calm.’
Photos and video taken by Mr Holloway, who lives opposite the hotel, showed the spread of the fire from an adjoining building to the roof of the Angel Inn.
The hotel was previously a coaching inn which provided refreshment and rooms to travellers passing through the town.