Pub fights back after fire

A plucky licensee and his wife proved the show must go on after re-opening their pub just a day after fire destroyed their living quarters.

Peter and Sheila Meads have run the Cross Keys in Pulloxhill in Bedfordshire for 39 years but their personal belongings were destroyed when fire tore through the pub last Monday.

A fire alarm alerted son Paul to the danger and he, Peter and six members of staff all escaped unharmed.

Paul said: "I was downstairs opening my mail when I heard the alarm go off. At first I simply thought that Mum might have left the toaster on."

But when Paul went to check upstairs, he discovered flames raging in his parent's bedroom and acted quickly to avert disaster.

"My first instinct was to shut all of the doors upstairs and I was later told by the firemen that if I had not done that, we would have lost the whole building."

However, although the fire was contained in the bedroom, the family living quarters was ruined by the smoke.

"It was such a shock for my parents. They were devastated because they have lost all their personal belongings. They have no toiletries or shoes only the clothes they were wearing that day," said Paul.

But he added their main priority was to keep the pub open.

With help from regulars and a team sent by brewery Charles Wells, which owns the pub, the family spent the night cleaning the bar downstairs to get it ready for trading.

As a result the Meads were able to cater for 65 people at lunchtime the following day. The family now hopes the pub will be fully refurbished by July.

A spokeswoman for Charles Wells Pub Company said: "We've been amazed at how well they've coped and that their first thought was not for themselves, but for opening for trading as quickly as possible so they didn't let their customers down.

"We're very proud of them and believe they typify why licensees make the British pub the great tradition it is."

The fire is thought to have been accidental.