Horror arson attack raises issue of fire safety in pubs

by Claire Hu The trade has been left sickened by a horrifying arson attack on a north London pub which killed two of the landlord's children. Charlie Knight, five, and his 10-year-old brother Christopher, who were sons of landlords Kevin and Kate, died during the blaze at the Prince of Wales, in Nevill Road, Stoke Newington, in the early hours of Sunday. Their younger brother Joe, aged three, was critically ill in hospital as the Morning Adver-tiser went to press on Tuesday. Police are treating the incident as murder after finding traces of a flammable liquid on the premises. Trade figures say the tragedy highlights the vulnerability of many pubs ­ where lessees' families often live in upstairs accommodation in Victorian buildings with inadequate fire safety standards ­ to arsonists. Police said the fire started on the ground floor near the front door and was quickly channelled upstairs through a stairwell where the brothers and two 11-year-old girls, one a cousin, were sleeping while a small family gathering took place downstairs. The 11-year-old cousin was also badly injured. A local man suffered severe burns after trying to rescue the children, throwing some of them out of a window before jumping from the building himself. Ken Fleming, licensee at the Shakespeare, which is 100 yards from the Prince of Wales, said the pub had a troubled history. "I only know Kevin from Pubwatch meetings," he said. "It's an estate pub and there's been some trouble there before. It's a really horrible thing to happen, especially when children are caught up in it." He said the tragedy was an example of how Victorian pubs did not have adequate fire safety standards. "I believe the building is around the same age as my pub, around 1850s," he said. "In a lot of these older buildings, there are no good fire escapes and no way to put them in without spending a large amount of cash. These buildings are like tinderboxes and arson is an easy option." Tony Payne, of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associa-tion, is concerned many pubs do not measure up to modern fire safety standards. He even published a fire safety guide for pubs during this year's fire service strikes. He said: "It's a real worry when landlords live on site and the children are often upstairs. I found staff are hardly ever given training on fire safety and there are often no alarm systems.