Blaze breaks out in pub cellar

Staff and guests were forced to flee a 500-year-old hotel and restaurant in Shifnal after a blaze broke out in the cellar.

A guest at Naughty Nell's in Park Street raised the alarm at about 10.30 last night after hearing a loud bang and then smelling smoke.

He hammered on doors to rouse people in the building as they made their escape.

A total of 35 firefighters were drafted to the scene from across Telford and Shrewsbury to tackle the fire, which damaged beer kegs and an electrical switchboard in the cellar and left the three-storey, timber-framed building smoke logged.

Investigators were today at the scene trying to determine the cause of the fire.