THE owner of a restaurant and hotel hit by a devastating fire has thanked fire and rescue crews who saved his business.

Sean McCourt, the owner of the Black Swan at Fearby, near Masham, has been speaking for the first time about the blaze which almost destroyed the pub and restaurant, run by his family for over 60 years, and the remarkable nine hour battle to get it reopened.

In the early hours of Friday, August 28, with the bank holiday looming and rooms fully booked, 24 guests and several staff were evacuated from the buildings as alarms went off and the fire took hold.

Fire and rescue crews, police and ambulances raced to the scene, everyone got out safely and the village hall was opened to provide shelter.

The rooms are in separate buildings opposite the main pub and were not directly affected but the kitchen was destroyed and the restaurant was under two inches of water, but faced with ringing dozens of potential guests and turning others away, Sean decided to see what could be done.

“We got a trailer kitchen brought in and parked it in the car park, got the water pumped out and Gregg Electrical from Masham dropped everything and worked all day to get power restored. We only missed doing breakfast, we don’t do lunches during the week and that night we were providing a full restaurant service,” he said.

“It was amazing, but once we knew everyone was safe, that was the most important thing and from there we just wanted to get on with doing what we do.

“The rooms were fully booked and I knew people would have had their holiday ruined and would have been unable to get in anywhere else, so that was what we needed to do. We could have said let’s not bother, but we got on with it and a lot of people commented on how fast we had got up and running and thanked us because their holiday wasn’t spoilt."

“The fire brigade did a brilliant job confining the fire to the kitchen, there was water damage and a bit of smoke damage but they were marvellous, I really would like to thank them, and other people who rallied round and helped us keep going,” added Mr McCourt.

His grandfather bought the pub in 1954 and the family have carried on ever since building up the business which also has a caravan park, Sean took over 11 years ago. “We weren’t going to let a fire put us out of business, not after all this time,” he added. Forensic examinations could not find a cause for the blaze.