A PUB has been severely damaged after a major fire broke out in the early hours of this morning.

Flames tore through the roof of Bar Avenue, in Seaham, County Durham, after the fire started out in the flat above.

Video: Chris Guy

The building, on The Avenue, was said to be "well alight" when firefighters arrived on the scene at around 1.30am.

Chris Guy who lives opposite the pub said: "I was woken up by flashing lights and noise outside my bedroom window. 

"The pub was well alight. There was smoke coming into my bedroom. My son came in and said the bar was on fire. There was thick black smoke all over. You couldn't even make the pub out, it was that bad. 

"There fireman were running all over. 

"Within a few seconds we heard big bangs and then flames. At one point the roof caved in. It was exciting but scary. 

She added: "The pub has a new owner. He took it over in February. 

The roof has been destroyed by the fire, which took three hours to be brought under control.

Four crews and an aerial platform ladder were sent as part of the operation to tackle the blaze.

Steve Wharton, group manager with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, said: “There were quite a few calls in fairly quick succession, saying there was a significant fire in the upstairs flat of the property.

“We sent crews from Seaham, High Handenhold, Durham and Peterlee, and at the height of the blaze they were joined by an aerial ladder platform.”

It is understood no-one was in the property at the time.

Mr Wharton said: “A team wearing breathing apparatus was deployed into the flat to check there was no-one in there, and quickly established that there wasn't.

"We withdrew them because parts of the floor were starting to fall away into the pub below, and the roof was coming in.

“This is where the aerial platform is a great firefighting tool, to get some water onto the fire from above.

“It took about three hours to put it out. The flat suffered extensive damage, and part of the floor has collapsed into the bar below, so it's a bit of a mess."

A Northern Gas Networks engineer was at the scene this morning, and a joint police and fire investigation into the cause of the blaze is to be carried out.

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary: “We were called by the fire service of a report of a fire in flat above a bar.

“From the start, we knew no-one was in the property.

“It is an unoccupied flat. “The owner of the bar has confirmed nobody has lived in the flat for a number of years. Our investigation team is still at the scene.”